


A Continual Decency

by WinterRose527



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, COVID, Coronavirus, F/M, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Quarantine, Smut, and, apparently, but here we are, not sure when I decided that was going to be a KEY piece of this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:00:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27750424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterRose527/pseuds/WinterRose527
Summary: Title is pulled from a quote from The Decameron. This fic is based on a prompt from the lovely nolita280 on Tumblr in which our four favorites flee to the Starks' lake house to wait out the virus, all of them bringing a not-so-secret crush along with them.Please note, this is ABSOLUTELY in no way meant to disregard the seriousness of the virus or downplay what it has meant to the country and world. Please keep in mind our four are college students and we know a lot more now than we did back in March, so be generous to their obliviousness.I hope you all enjoy!
Relationships: Jon Snow/Sansa Stark, Myrcella Baratheon/Robb Stark
Comments: 140
Kudos: 169





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nolita280](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nolita280/gifts).



“My dad says they are going to shut down Manhattan,” the girl in front of her was saying.

“No, that’s just some rumor the Post ran,” the girl next to her leaned over to whisper, “My brother works at Goldman and he says they’re all working… _remotely?_ I think that’s what he said. For two weeks.”

Myrcella was only half-listening as she reviewed her flash cards. _The Calling of St. Matthew…_ she read and then immediately Caravaggio, 1600 came to mind. She flipped the card over and saw that she was right and then looked at the next.

She’d been studying for her art history midterm all semester. After every class she made notecards of the main works they’d discussed. The pile that she carted around with her everywhere had grown steadily since January and she flipped through it whenever she had a spare moment. She’d always been a good test taker, but this midterm was important. It was all that stood between her and placing into the seminar on Ferdinand Bol and his followers that was usually reserved for seniors. She’d be a junior next year but her advisor had told her it was the last time the class would be taught and it was one of the reasons she’d wanted to come to this school in the first place.

The professor came in and Myrcella shoved her notecards in her bag. She glanced briefly at her phone, and was surprised by the amount of texts and missed calls that she had, but as the professor lowered the lights she didn’t have time to think about that.

“Alright, you know the drill. The test will consist of twenty slide identifications and two essays. For each slide identification you’ll need to include the artist, if it is known, the title, year of execution, medium, current location as well as two reasons it is important to the canon of Western Art History. You’ll have one minute for each slide identification and ten minutes per essay. Godspeed.”

“I’m going to vomit,” the girl next to her informed her and the room was so silent that even people in the back row laughed.

The first slide appeared on the screen and Myrcella grinned. It was Bernini’s _Apollo and Daphne_. She quickly filled in the basic information and the two points and then waited patiently for the next slide. _The Martyrdom of St. Anthony_ by Guido Reni was next. Paintings and altarpieces and sculptures and ceilings appeared in quick succession, all of which had been in her well-worn stack.

She found the essay questions interesting but not particularly challenging and by the time the lights came back on the seminar seemed well within reach.

“Please place your test papers on my desk. Details of how to access next week’s lecture will be sent to your school email address,” their professor said.

She turned towards the girl next to her who had thankfully made it through the whole test without vomiting, “What’s he talking about?”

The girl looked at her like she was crazy, “They’re kicking us all off campus. Haven’t you heard? My Mom’s already on her way…”

Myrcella’s brow furrowed as she began searching in her bag for her phone before finding it in the exact pocket that was designed for it and yet she never thought to look in first. She grabbed it out and saw that she now had a truly staggering amount of texts and missed calls.

Most of them seemed to be from her roommate Sansa so she called her first.

“El?,” Sansa picked up on the first ring. “I’ve been messaging you!”

“I had my midterm,” Myrcella reminded her as she shuffled behind a few people to drop off the test. “What’s going on? They’re shutting down the school?”

“Yeah that Coronavirus thing has apparently started to get super bad. I think they’re shutting down New York City or something and Seattle is basically overrun with it,” Sansa explained and Myrcella began to wonder what else she’d missed while being in her studying black hole, “We all have to be off campus by tonight.”

“For how long?,” Myrcella wondered, dropping off her test paper.

“Two weeks,” Sansa said and Myrcella started pushing through the crowd of students with a bit more urgency. “But Robb thinks it’ll-“

A beep told her she had another call coming in and she glanced at her caller ID, “Sansa it’s Jon, I’m going to take this but I’m heading back to the dorm now. See you soon.” Sansa started to say something but Myrcella clicked off and answered Jon as she got out of the building. The quad was practically deserted. “Hey, this is a bit a wild.”

“I know, this is ridiculous,” Jon said, “I was just in New York last week for that interview. The city seemed totally normal.”

“Yeah,” Myrcella agreed as she started walking to her dorm. “What are you doing? We have to leave right?”

“We’re going with the Starks,” Jon explained, “We’re all heading to the lake house in New Hampshire.”

“Won’t that be an imposition?,” Myrcella wondered, “I mean…I might be able to get on a flight to Charleston if-“

“No,” Jon argued. “Haven’t you seen the news, El? We’re not supposed to be traveling at all.”

“I’ve been studying for that test,” she reminded him.

“Right,” Jon sighed, “Well lets just say we don’t want to be in any major city and definitely in no airport. Ned was already making Robb promise to bring us both with him and Sansa.”

“Okay,” Myrcella agreed, “When are we leaving? Should Sansa and I take my car?”

“It’s a long drive,” Jon noted, “And it’s going to be dark by the time we get there. It’ll only be two weeks and you guys can borrow my car if you need.”

“Let’s all take mine then,” she suggested. “It’s bigger.”

“Yeah good point,” Jon agreed. “Okay Robb and I are just finishing packing up and will walk the dogs over to meet you guys at the parking lot in like… an hour?”

“K, see you then,” she agreed and hung up.

She saw that she had a text from Catelyn telling her that she’d already called her mother and told her she’d be going to the lake house with all of them. She had a message from her mother offering to send a jet to pick her up. A call from her Uncle Jaime. One from Trystane. And a text from Robb.

She clicked on that one and felt her stomach flip flop: _Hey M, call Sansa back she’s driving me CRAZY. PS, pack your slippers and your game face._

All of a sudden two weeks off campus sounded like just the ticket. Two weeks away from parties and Trystane and Jeyne. Two weeks away with Robb Stark in a romantic house by the lake.

She grinned as she got into her dorm building and walked down the hall to the room she shared with Sansa. Upon opening the door her calm abandoned her immediately, as their room had been turned into a war zone.

“Sansa?,” she asked, stepping inside warily.

“In…here…,” Sansa grunted and then Myrcella heard thuds on the ground. “Stupid _boots!_ ”

Myrcella giggled and shrugged out of her coat, hanging her bag over her desk chair. She went and sat on her bed, kicking off her loafers.

Sansa stepped out of her closet and looked at her. Her gorgeous roommate was dressed in yoga pants and one of her elder brother’s old lacrosse t shirts from high school.

“What are you doing? We have to _pack_ ,” Sansa noted.

“We’re going to be holed up at the lake for two weeks,” Myrcella reminded her, “How long does it take to throw leggings and sweaters in a bag?”

“We need more than that!,” Sansa noted. “All our books and study materials, shoes to wear outside…”

Myrcella grinned, “And maybe something _super casual_ but also pretty enough to get Jon Snow’s attention?”

Sansa’s Disney Princess eyes turned towards her comically slow as a blush rose on her cheeks, “No.” Myrcella raised her eyebrow at her. “Well maybe, will you help me find something?”

“Of course I will,” Myrcella said going into her closet and tugging a suitcase down from the top.

She placed the suitcase on her bed and then grabbed a bunch of sweaters out of her closet and folded them as Sansa held up one shirt and then another. She packed a couple of pairs of jeans and then a bunch of workout and comfy clothes, thick socks and the slippers Robb had recommended. She folded up a long navy blue rain coat and tossed in her hair dryer. She didn’t bother throwing in any shampoo, remembering from her time there last summer that the Starks always stocked some yummy local brand.

In a separate bag she packed her textbooks as well as a few novels she was reading for class and for pleasure. She packed her laptop and charger, a handful of phone chords, a bit of make up and a deck of cards.

When she was fully packed she sat back down on her bed and called her mother, letting her know that there was no reason to send a jet. That it was going to be a nice little trip and over before any of them knew it. Her mother was unconvinced and told her that the offer stood, but Myrcella assured her that all would be well, giggling as Sansa pulled her over to sit on her suitcase so that she could close it.

When they had gotten everything that they and fifteen other people could possibly need for the next two weeks, they rolled their suitcases out of the dorm to the parking lot behind it. Jon and Robb were already there, Ghost and Grey Wind sitting happily at their feet.

The dogs started tugging on their leashes to get to Sansa and she stopped rolling her suitcase, “Robb you get this I’ll take him.”

“Somehow that doesn’t exactly feel like a fair trade,” Robb told his sister but he was smiling at _her_. Even still he moved forward and took Sansa’s suitcase and through her bag over his shoulder and then walked over to her. He held his hand out, “Load me up.”

“That’s alright,” she grinned, “I can carry it.”

He chuckled, “It’s bigger than you are, hand it over Baratheon.”

She pulled her bag off her shoulder and it handed it to him, and he made a big show out of how heavy it was and even still grabbed her suitcase as well and wheeled them over to the car.

Myrcella greeted Ghost and Grey Wind first and then Jon.

“You want me to drive?,” he asked.

She shook her head, “I’ll drive for now, maybe you can sub in when it gets dark. You can navigate though.”

“Alright, let’s do this,” Jon agreed and she unlocked the doors to her Land Rover.

Robb and Jon loaded up the trunk as Sansa pulled down the seat in the back so that the dogs could pile into the way back. Myrcella got into the front seat and plugged in her phone and Jon got in next to her, unplugging hers and plugging his in.

“Come on, El, I’ve got better music,” he noted.

She rolled her eyes and pulled out of the parking lot. Hers was one of the last cars in it and they all looked at their campus as they drove through it. By the time they returned there might be leaves on the trees. Parties would start taking place outside again and the days would be longer.

“It’s so weird,” Sansa noted as they drove through. “It looks like the safest place to be.”

“Not as safe as where we’re going, Dovey,” Robb noted.

Myrcella and Jon glanced at each other and neither could help but smile. The Starks faith in their family homes was well placed. Everything felt better, just a little bit easier, when you were there. There were always people around who wanted to do just the thing you wanted, and the guest rooms always felt exactly the way you’d left them.

She loved the lake house. Last summer she’d gone up for a week and it had been the best of the whole year. There were always parties and bonfires, and it was warm during the day and cool at night. Her family’s summer home Casterly Rock in the mountains of North Carolina couldn’t even begin to compete with it.

They stopped for coffee and then got on the highway. The traffic had already started, and she saw Jon glancing at her gas tank gauge as they ambled along I-90 at a tortuously slow pace.

Jon kept them in good music, and then Sansa stole his phone and kept them in better. As they neared Massachusetts she pulled over so that they could get gas. Jon got out of the front seat and came around to fill the tank and she got out of the driver’s seat, ready to switch to being a passenger.

“Robb, do you want the front seat?,” she asked.

“No, I’m good back here,” Robb told her.

“I’ll take it,” Sansa said and both Robb and Myrcella turned to look at her, “It’ll make it easier to DJ.”

“Right,” Robb smirked and winked at her.

She loved it when he winked at her. She usually _hated_ it, it was so weird from other guys. Robb always did it when they were both in on the joke and she loved being on the inside with him. However, Myrcella’s loyalty above all others was to Sansa.

So even though she smiled at Robb she reasoned, “Plus your legs are longer than mine.”

“Right!,” Sansa agreed happily, getting out of the back seat.

Myrcella walked around to her side and got in. Sansa passed her her bag and Myrcella pulled the cream cashmere wrap she always wore while traveling out of it.

“You cold?,” Robb asked.

Before this moment she hadn’t considered that she was going to be sitting next to him for the rest of the ride. There was a middle seat in between him but Robb was _big_. His legs easily stretched to the middle and to hers if he tried.

She crossed her legs and turned towards him, “A little. Always.”

Seemingly without thinking Robb pulled off his quarter zip sweatshirt and passed it to her, “Here, take this.”

To an outside observer it likely would have been comical to see her holding this J Crew piece of cloth like it was the Holy Grail. She didn’t mind what it looked like though, because she was sitting next to Robb Stark and he’d just given her his sweatshirt.

“Thanks,” she said as calmly as she could and pulled it on over her thin turtleneck.

It was warm from his body and cozy on its own and it practically drowned her.

“You’re so teeny,” he informed her.

She was about to suggest that perhaps he was just very large when both Sansa and Jon opened the car doors. Jon looked at her and grimaced and she felt her cheeks flush.

“Ready?,” Sansa asked cheerfully from the front seat, flirtatiously taking Jon’s phone from where it rested in the center console and a second later Robyn came blaring through the speakers.

“Not again,” Robb groaned and Myrcella giggled.

“It’s a classic,” Sansa declared.

Robb looked over at her and Myrcella adopted as solemn a face as she was able, “A classic.”

“This is the last time,” Jon groaned but it was mitigated by the smile in his eyes when he turned and pointed at the girl sitting next to him, “Is that clear, Sansa Stark?”

Though Myrcella couldn’t see it she could hear the smile in Sansa’s voice when she said, “Crystal.”

Jon pulled out of the gas station and back onto the highway. Myrcella spread her wrap over her legs and turned around to scratch underneath Grey Wind’s chin.

“Does he mind the car?,” she asked.

“No,” Robb said and suddenly he was right there, having leaned closer to her so that he could also pet Grey Wind. His hand touched hers as he stroked Grey Wind’s cheek. “He just likes to be wherever I am.”

Myrcella looked into Grey Wind’s eyes and it was clear between girl and beast that the two understood one another perfectly. Grey Wind nuzzled himself against her hand.

“Sweet boy,” she whispered.

“He likes you,” Robb told her.

She grinned, “He likes everyone.”

“No,” Robb said and she glanced at him, “He doesn’t.”

For some reason it was very clear to her that he was talking about Jeyne. She and Robb had broken up earlier in the semester, but it had been messy. They’d continued to see each other behind closed doors, and Myrcella had heard it had ended in tears at the rugby house a couple of weeks ago while she was studying for a literature test.

“Well then I’m honored,” she told him, then looked back at Grey Wind who was safer before turning back forwards towards the road.

Traffic cleared as they got into New Hampshire. They’d been lucky enough to avoid Boston entirely, so as it got dark they got to start going faster.

Robb’s cell rang and he answered, “Hey Mom, we’re about a half hour… Sans turn down the music… what do you mean you’re not coming? Yeah… but Grandpa is as healthy as a horse. Oh. Okay. And Rick and Bran? Well… no we will. Okay… yeah. No, yeah I have my key… toilet paper why? What? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Okay, no okay we’ll do it. Yeah… well yeah… for fucks sake… sorry. Okay. Yeah. Yeah she’s right here hold on. Sansa it’s Mom.”

Sansa reached and grabbed the phone and brought it to her ear, “What do you mean you’re not coming?… Is Grandpa okay? Well do you need help? Okay… Yeah no we’ll be fine. Canned goods ew. Fine. Okay. Okay. Okay. Love you too bye.”

“So what’s going on?,” Jon asked as he pulled off the highway.

“They’re not coming,” Robb said as he took his cell back from Sansa. “They want to make sure Grandpa Tully is alright since he lives on his own so they are taking Rickon and Bran upstate.”

Jon drove more slowly as they got onto a back road.

“So it’ll just be us,” Sansa said. “Until school reopens.”

“Just us,” Jon said and Myrcella caught the way he looked over towards the passenger seat briefly before looking back at the road.

Myrcella glanced at Robb and was surprised to find that he was already looking over at her.

“These two weeks will fly by,” he reasoned. “And then this whole coronavirus thing will be behind us.”

“Did you guys ever read The Decameron?,” Myrcella wondered.

“Last year,” Robb nodded and then grinned, “Hey this _is_ kind of like that.” Jon pulled off the highway onto a long driveway that curled along through the woods and along the lake. The house was entirely dark but it was still impressive as it stood proudly above the lake. “Well, it’s not a villa in Tuscany but it’s a good place to tell some stories.”

“And who knows?,” Myrcella smiled. Robb turned to look at her and then Jon turned around as did Sansa. “Maybe we’ll even make some of our own.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for the lovely words on the first chapter.
> 
> This is all from Sansa's perspective.

It was pitch black as Jon pulled into the drive. She’d always loved arriving here at night, it made the next morning feel like she’d woken up in a dream land.

“So what’s the deal with your Grandpa?,” Jon asked.

Sansa shrugged, “I’m not sure really. Mom’s worried about him being on his own. He’s stubborn as an ox, and she probably just wants to make sure he has enough food in case his aid can’t get there for whatever reason.”

Jon nodded and Sansa was nearly bowled over by Ghost and Grey Wind as Myrcella let them out of the way back. They ran, tackling one another into the grass as Robb opened up the trunk.

Robb handed her the keys, “Why don’t you and Myrcella go in and start turning the heat up and the lights on. Jon and I’ll grab the bags.”

“We can help,” Myrcella offered.

Sansa didn’t hide the roll of her eyes, given that it was pitch black and Myrcella and Robb were only looking at each other.

“No that’s okay,” Robb suggested, his voice half an octave deeper than usual. “Go warm up, M.”

Sansa grabbed Myrcella’s hand and all but tugged her away from Robb. It was either that or shove them in a closet the first chance she got.

They walked up the back pathway, around to the front of the house. In the summer it smelled constantly of lilacs but now it just smelled like cold rain and earth and that peculiar lovely smell of the lake.

“Sansa!,” Myrcella stage whispered, squeezing her hand. “You are absolutely going to be Jon’s girlfriend by the end of this.”

Sansa squeezed her hand back, but argued, “Why would this two weeks be any different from any other? I’ve known him my whole life.”

“Be _cause_ ,” Myrcella said giddily, all but jumping up and down as Sansa unlocked the door. “This is _two weeks_ without parents -“ Sansa turned to argue as she flipped on the lights but Myrcella continued, “And without anyone else except _us_.”

Sansa’s stomach churned, “So what? He’s just going to date me because I’m the only girl around?”

Myrcella’s giggle echoed in the empty house, “No! He’s going to date you because he’s not going to be able to make up excuses not to or distract himself or _anything_. He’s just going to be here and he’s going to have no excuse but to admit that-“

“What do you _have_ in this thing, El?,” Jon asked behind them and both her and Myrcella yelped and then grabbed onto each other laughing. He gave them a bemused expression and Myrcella wrapped an arm around her shoulders and said, “Rocks. Why?”

“Just checking,” Jon nodded and they moved out of the way so that he could come into the foyer.

Sansa took the opportunity to look around. She hadn’t been here since Christmas, but her parents had brought the boys here a few weekends ago so there was no dust or anything and the furniture was uncovered. She lead the way down the hall to the kitchen and turned on the light, locating the central air and increasing the heat.

“We should have a fire tonight,” she suggested and Myrcella nodded. “Let’s go upstairs.”

They went up the back way and Sansa lead them first into her room, turningon the lights. The bed was bare so she went into Robb’s and found the same.

“Do you want the guest room you had over the summer?,” she asked Myrcella.

“Definitely!,” Myrcella agreed, so they walked down the other wing and Sansa opened up the door and turned on the light.

“Jon’ll be in his room,” Sansa mused so she opened the door next to Myrcella’s.

“Where are the sheets and everything?,” Myrcella asked, heading back into the hall and looking for a closet.

Sansa brought her to the linen closet and smiled when she saw her Mom’s system. Stacks of sheets, blankets and comforters were lined up, with each of the Stark children’s names written on the shelf underneath them. There were also spots for _Guest Room #1, Guest Room #2, Master,_ etc.

Myrcella grabbed the stacks from Guest Rooms 1 & 2, telling her that she’d do her and Jon’s room if Sansa did hers and Robb’s. Sansa considered suggesting making Robb’s bed with Myrcella in it but figured she’d be turned down.

The girls parted ways and Sansa made her and Robb’s beds quickly. She went into her bathroom and splashed some water on her face and then realized they all needed towels so she went and distributed some in each room.

It was odd to be here without her parents. She’d been here without them before, but she’d never arrived without them. The house was always completely set up by the time they left, the fridge stocked, everything in order.

It felt strangely grown up. The same way she’d felt when she’d been sitting in the dining room her first week of school and realized that there was no reason that she _had_ to eat vegetables with her dinner. That she could make that decision for herself. That her Mom wasn’t around to give her a stern look.

The funny thing about it was, that for her, it had always made her want to be _more_ responsible. Like she’d been given this privilege, this chance to be the person she was meant to be, and that acting a certain way when no one was looking was better than acting that way when they were.

To this day Sansa took a good portion of greens at lunch and dinner, even when she was hungover or in a rush.

She went into the guest room and found Myrcella smoothing Jon’s comforter. Sansa rarely came into this room. It was technically a guest room but it couldn’t have belonged to Jon more if his name had been written under the linens.

Unlike the guest room that Myrcella would be in, this room was fairly austere. There was an old, large oak bed and a desk and chair. A large set of windows on one side that looked out into the forest. It was comfortable but without frills. Perfect for Jon.

“All set!,” Myrcella smiled.

“Sansa? Myrcella?,” they heard Robb call so they went back out into the hall to the top of the stairs. Robb was standing at the top, holding Myrcella’s suitcase and bag. He rolled it into Myrcella’s room so they followed him in. Robb looked at her, “This going to be okay?” as though if she wanted to she could take his room whether he was in it or not.

“This room is perfect,” Myrcella agreed, as though him standing in it made it so.

“Good,” he grinned, and then turned to her, “Jon and I are going to the grocery and liquor store.”

“Wait, shouldn’t we make a list?,” Sansa asked, her Mom’s words coming out of her mouth.

Robb shrugged, “If it’s anything like Mom said, we’re just going to have to take what we can find.”

“Well, one of us should go at least,” Myrcella suggested, “So that we don’t just get boy food.”

Robb turned and grinned, “What’s boy food?”

Myrcella rolled her eyes and Sansa couldn’t help but smile. Though her best friend was absolutely, undeniably in love with her older brother, that didn’t mean she’d lost sense entirely.

“I’ll go,” Sansa laughed, knowing that she and Myrcella would both want oat milk and non-fat yogurt, spinach and apples and an assortment of other things that Robb considered bunny food.

“Great,” Robb smiled quickly, and hid it even quicker, which suggested she might just have followed exactly where he’d lead without even realizing it. “You go with Jon, that way I can get everything set up here.”

Myrcella bit her lip and smiled. Sansa knew that she imagined that Robb was sending her off with Jon for _her_ sake, but Sansa also knew that any benefit to her was almost entirely incidental. His real goal was being alone with her best friend and if that meant sending his little sister off with his then so be it. Even Robb, the most over-protective brother in the history of the world, had their limits.

“Okay,” Sansa feigned nonchalance.

The three of them bounded down the stairs and found Jon in the kitchen pouring food into Grey Wind and Ghost’s bowls.

“We heading out?,” Jon asked Robb.

“You’re stuck with me actually,” she told him.

Jon looked at her and nodded, as though it didn’t make much difference to him either way. He grabbed Myrcella’s keys off the counter and Sansa grabbed her wallet.

They exited the house to Robb teasing Myrcella as she tried to lift one of the bags and her exasperated giggle. Jon sighed as they closed the door and they walked in silence towards the back.

Sansa got into the passenger seat as Jon got into the drivers. He pulled out of the driveway and onto the road that would lead them to town.

“Why does it frustrate you?,” she couldn’t help but ask, safely in the dark. “Myrcella and Robb.”

Jon was silent for a minute and then said, “I’m not jealous if that’s what you’re asking.”

It was so exactly what she was asking that it caught her off guard. For a moment she felt entirely exposed, even though he couldn’t see the blush on her cheeks, even though he wasn’t looking at her at all.

“She’s just young,” he said as they pulled into the grocery store parking lot.

“She’s nineteen,” Sansa pointed out, “He’s twenty-one. It’s not like it’s all that strange.”

_Or like it’s any different than the years between you and me._

“Do you really think that either of them will look anywhere else once they get together?,” Jon asked as they parked.

“Well isn’t that nice?,” she wondered. “They’d be so happy.”

“Nineteen is a little young for happily ever after,” he shrugged, “That’s all I’m saying.”

He got out of the car then and the only thing to do was follow behind. She buttoned her wool coat to her throat, grabbing a shopping cart and squirting hand sanitizer all over the handle bar.

She saw Jon looking at her and she shrugged, “Mom said to put it on everything.”

They headed into the grocery store and Sansa was surprised to find it in reasonable order, considering what her Mom said the grocery store in Winterfell, Vermont had been like. There were more people than usually might be there on a Tuesday night, but no one was ransacking the place.

“Mom says we need to get as much toilet paper as we can find,” Sansa said.

“Anything else on the 2020 Survival How-To’s by Catelyn Stark?,” Jon asked.

“Non-perishables,” she informed him.

“So…Twinkies?,” Jon teased.

“Yep,” Sansa sighed, determined not to find him funny or charming or anything else since she apparently was too young to do so. “Lots and lots of them.”

She saw hurt in his eyes briefly but she pushed the shopping cart towards the produce section anyway. In spite of her Mom’s advice she grabbed spinach and bibb lettuce, filling a bag with brussel sprouts. She grabbed carrots and peppers and everything else needed for a salad, and sweet potatoes and beets, and parsnips because they were Myrcella’s favorite.

They made their ways through the aisles, getting the practical things like bags of black beans and rice and chickpeas, and the not so practical and never-the-less essential, like nutella and lemons and chips. They got tons of coffee and were even able to snag two twelve-packs of toilet paper and one of paper towels. Jon shoveled more meat than was fathomable into their cart and Sansa got her and Myrcella two cartons of oat milk and a gallon of whole milk for the boys. They got dog food and flour and eggs and half-way through Sansa ran to get another cart.

“Are we being ridiculous?,” Jon asked as they got in line one after the other.

“Definitely yes,” Sansa reasoned, and then shrugged, “But if it’s really as bad as they say, limiting our trips out is for the best.”

Jon nodded and they loaded everything onto the conveyor and a kind man helped them bag it all up. It came to a monstrous sum and she put it on the credit card tied to her parents bank account just as her Mom had told her to.

The parking lot was deserted by the time they got out and they loaded up the car quickly. She for one was a little spooked, though she told herself not to be. There was a year-round population here but the majority were summer people like her family.

When they got into the car Jon drove them the two minutes to the liquor store.

“You coming in?,” Jon asked as he opened his door.

“I’m nineteen, remember?,” she asked. “Too young to buy alcohol. Among other things.”

“Sansa,” he sighed.

“Robb’ll be getting hungry,” she told him, reaching into her coat pocket and pulling out her phone.

He closed the door without another word and when he got to the door of the store he turned around and locked the car doors, which told her more than anything that he too was just a little bit spooked.

Her rational mind told her it was ridiculous, but the nagging part of it reminded her that it was also unlike anything she’d ever experienced. She’d grown up with flu season and having to stay home when Arya had gotten the chicken pox and spread it to every one else, but never in her life had she imagined that her college campus would shut down. Her camp group had never even been sent home early with lice.

Likely everything would be fine, but her friends at Columbia had been live-tweeting their trips to the grocery store, sharing images of empty shelves for days. America as a whole was not a country used to waiting or want. There was no saying how they’d all react.

Jon came back a few minutes later with a cart full of bottles. She turned around briefly as he unloaded and saw that he’d gotten her favorite vodka and Myrcella’s favorite gin, cases of beer and a couple of wine. Her liver hurt just looking at it.

He got back in the car and drove them onto the road that would lead home. As they neared the turn to their drive she got the feeling he wanted to say something so she looked over at him.

He must have noticed because he said, “I don’t understand why my concern bothers you.”

“I don’t know Jon,” she sighed. “Protection or respect. Which would you prefer?”

He slowed as he got onto the drive and he scoffed, “You think I don’t respect El?”

Ever since she’d brought Myrcella and a couple of other girls from their floor to Robb and Jon’s off-campus house party their first night of freshman year, Jon had had a soft spot for her beautiful roommate. She’d always known it was different than the one Robb had for her, and it was only when she felt particularly insecure that she worried it was anything more than brotherly.

“I’m not talking about Myrcella,” Sansa admitted as he parked.

If he was going to ask her anything he must have thought better of it as she opened her door and went into the trunk to start pulling out bags. She walked up the back steps to the door that was closest to the kitchen and opened it.

It was warm inside, Ghost and Grey Wind were sleeping in a pile in the middle of the floor. She came in to the sound of laughter, and Myrcella was sitting up on the counter as Robb stood next to her.

“Dovey, we were about to send out a search party,” Robb told her.

She didn’t bother noting that neither of them looked particularly concerned because Jon came in a second later carrying the bottles of gin and vodka.

“Oh good!,” Myrcella grinned, “We’re going to make…”

“QUARANTINIS,” Myrcella and Robb said in tandem and then started laughing.

Sansa smiled, “Quarantinis? That’s so cute!”

Myrcella giggled, “I know, I told Robb I wanted a martini and he just thought of it.”

Sansa made a mental note to post a picture online of her and Myrcella drinking them with a caption like _Got my ride-or-die and my quarantini, what else does a girl need?_

They all went back outside and started carrying in groceries. When they’d gotten enough in she decided to stay in and start putting things away, keeping out things for a salad and pasta and ground beef and sauce. Jon and Myrcella came in chatting happily and then Myrcella stayed in started putting things away as well, unloading the bags as Jon and Robb brought them in.

When everything was in she looked at Robb, “Cocktails?”

Robb too went into host mode and nodded, going into the bar to get the shaker and a few martini glasses.

Myrcella shoved the cutting board and vegetables toward Jon and Sansa grabbed her a big saute pan for the sauce. Robb made Myrcella’s gin martini first and then rinsed it out and poured in vodka and vermouth and squeezed in lemons for hers. Jon opened them up beers as Myrcella set the table.

Everyone had their own little jobs and soon a salad was made and drinks were ready and the sauce was being left to simmer.

Myrcella hopped back up on the island so Sansa did the same. They each grabbed their drinks and Sansa handed Robb her phone.

Wordlessly she and Myrcella wrapped their free arms around each other and pressed their cheeks together, proffering their glasses and smiling. Robb clicked a few pictures of them.

“Okay now all of us,” Myrcella demanded.

Because of how they were standing, Robb got next to her and Jon next to Myrcella. Each of them being next to the boy who was safe, who they loved dearly in the easy way of siblings, made it feel very safe to lean their heads on their shoulders smiling widely.

“SAY HAPPY CORONACATION,” Robb ordered.

“Oh my god the puns are going to have to stop,” Jon groaned, making her and Myrcella giggle right as the picture was taken.

The boys moved away when she and Myrcella were satisfied with the pictures. She and Myrcella stayed seated on the island, sipping their cocktails as Jon and Robb stood with them discussing hikes and card games and beer pong tournaments.

“Hey,” Myrcella said and they all turned to look at her. “Puns aside-“

“I didn’t agree to that,” Robb interrupted and they all laughed.

“Puns _ASIDE_ ,” Jon said pointedly.

Myrcella raised her glass, “If I’m going to be stuck, I’m so glad it’s with all of you.”

“Hear, hear,” she and Robb agreed, as she slapped the island and Robb slapped his leg.

Jon knocked his whiskey back and said, “Another drink or dinner?”

“Dinner,” they all agreed.

“Let’s open the wine,” Robb suggested.

“Ooh yes, let’s,” Myrcella agreed and hopped off the counter to go into the bar to see what Jon had picked up.

That left Sansa sitting on the kitchen island with Jon standing there, looking happy and beautiful in his black sweater.

She remembered then that things were awkward between them so she placed her drink down and hopped off the counter, going around to the stove to stir the sauce and turn on the water for pasta.

Jon came around and grabbed the salad to bring it to the table.

“You were right by the way,” he told her as he did.

“About what?,” she wondered.

He came back around to the stove and poured the pasta in the bubbling water.

“Nineteen is old enough to-,” Jon started.

“Red or white?,” Robb asked as he came back into the kitchen, holding up two bottles.

“Red,” she and Jon said in tandem as Myrcella appeared him with another bottle of red muttering a _told you_ as she brought it over to the table.

“Old enough to what?,” she asked Jon.

He turned to her and crinkled his eyes and her stomach somersaulted as her heart started thudding.

His gaze traveled south for a second before grabbing the pasta pot off the stove and emptied it into the sink.

Sansa glanced up and found Myrcella looking at her. _Oh my god,_ her roommate mouthed at her. _Shut up,_ Sansa mouthed back.

That didn’t stop the two of them from doing a celebratory shimmy anyway.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ya'll still with me? If so this chapter is PURE FLUFF

It had started when Jon and Sansa went to the store. Myrcella had taken the opportunity to unpack her things quickly, liking the idea of waking up settled. She’d splashed some cold water on her face and then gone downstairs to find Robb bringing in an enormous bag of firewood.

Her mouth had gone dry at the sight of him, his sleeves rolled up to reveal his weirdly erotic forearms, a grin on his face as he asked her to get the door behind him.

They’d then set about pulling throw blankets out of chests and locating the cards and the red cups. They’d done an inventory of the booze and spices.

And every so often there would be a touch, just a little one. A hand on the small of her back as he passed by or the squeeze of her arm when she had an idea. It gave her the confidence to touch him too. A hand on one of those forearms as she bent over laughing at his joke or an excited patter-patter-patter on his back when he looked in _just one more place_ for something.

There wasn’t a _ton_ to do while Jon and Sansa were gone because the Starks had apparently just been here with Bran and Rickon so things weren’t too put away. There were things that could only be done once it was light out, setting up the outdoor furniture and that sort of thing, so they took to walking around the house to find different study spots.

She told him she already knew the perfect place and he cackled like a maniac when he pretended that he was going to wake up early every day to get settled in that little window seat before her so much that she was doubled over and about to pee her pants from laughing.

It was so fun to be in his company. He was so good-natured and silly and he brought out her playful side, which was a gift because sometimes she felt like she had to manufacture it. Not with Robb though, it came so easily. Their conversations _bubbled_.

The little touches and looks continued through cocktails and dinner and she could have sworn she felt his foot against hers briefly as they played cards, though that could have been a mistake as it was moved rather quickly.

Around eleven Sansa had determined that it was time for bed. She had an 8 A.M. lecture that she’d have to figure out how to log into, which reminded them all that in spite of appearances this was not actually a mid-semester vacation. Jon too had a morning seminar so she and Robb offered to clean up.

It didn’t take too long, the four of them had cleaned up dinner right afterwards and so there was only their glasses and the candy to be rewrapped and the cards to be put away.

They’d played cards in the great room and the fire was still going, though they’d turned the lights out when they started to clean up.

She was standing at the couch folding one of the throw blankets when Robb came back into the room.

“What time is your first class tomorrow?,” he asked, and there was that light touch, that whisper across her back that set her whole body into motion.

“Not until two,” she said, “And just the one. How about you?”

He shook his head, “No classes on Wednesdays.” She nodded folding the blanket a third time before realizing this basically turned it into a ball. He took it from her then, his fingers ghosting over hers, “Stay up a little longer?”

Her eyes moved to his and she could see the fire dancing in them.

“For a little while, anyway,” she agreed.

They didn’t turn on the light and Robb took the blanket she’d just been folding and laid it out on the floor in front of the fire. This caused Grey Wind to immediately come and lay down smack in the center of it, groaning in delight.

“Nice, buddy,” Robb told him and Myrcella laughed as she plopped down on one side of him and Robb on the other.

She stroked Grey Wind’s head, who then moved it into her lap. His head warmed her legs and the fire warmed her cheek, the gin her stomach, and Robb’s gaze everything else.

“Sansa mentioned you think this is going to go on longer than the two weeks,” she prompted.

He shook his head, “Jon thinks so, but you know he’s our friendly resident pessimist. I’m not really sure, I kind of go in waves depending on how recently I’ve looked at CNN.”

She nodded, “Yeah I was in my blissful study black hole until the car this afternoon. Note to self: Do note catch up on a week’s worth of news in a single afternoon.”

He grinned, “Your focus _is_ kind of incredible.”

“Thank you for calling it focus and not something else,” she joked and he chuckled. It was unlike her to do so, so maybe it was the fire or the gin, or the way he was looking at her in that moment, that made her feel like she could open up a little bit. “The truth is, in my house growing up I sort of had to be able to tune everything else out.”

“Yeah,” Robb nodded and his hand covered hers briefly where it pet Grey Wind, before he moved it and rubbed Grey Wind’s body which caused a delighted groan to emit from the dog. “I can imagine you picked up quite a few skills surviving that house.”

“It wasn’t as bad as all that,” she shook her head.

“You don’t have to do that, M,” he shook his head, “Not with me. Not if you don’t want to. I know…” she glanced over at him, “I mean I’ve noticed. I think you might be the only girl to ever come to college and finding something quieter than they’ve left behind.”

Her mind was racing, a thousand different thoughts and feelings.

And yet the thing she asked was, “You’ve noticed…?”

He let out a weak chuckle and wouldn’t meet her gaze when he said, “Yeah I’ve noticed… you’re kind of hard not to.”

The fire danced and crackled, a log giving way and sending embers out, and she could see the blush on his cheeks.

“Well what about you?,” she asked. “Growing up in your house with four younger siblings, you must’ve had to learn how to drown things out.”

He grinned, “Actually I sort of developed a love for background noise. I can’t study in silence now, it’s so eery, being left alone with my thoughts.”

She giggled, “Your mind is a terrifying place, huh?”

He chuckled, “Yep, absolutely horrific.”

She smiled and laid down on the blanket, her knees bent, her feet flat on the floor and closed her eyes.

“I’ve noticed you too,” she told him, “Obviously.”

“What’s so obvious about that?,” he asked.

She grinned, “You’re _Robb Stark_ , everyone notices you.”

She felt rather than heard him lie down and his voice was very close to her when he told her, “Everyone notices you too. But that’s not what I meant.”

“Me neither,” she admitted, not daring to open her eyes or turn towards him.

“Whatever happened with that guy… Tristan?,” he asked.

Even though her eyes were closed she rolled them, “Trystane.”

“Right,” Robb agreed, “Trystane.”

“We dated for a little while,” she told him.

“He was telling people he was in love with you,” Robb noted.

At that she couldn’t help but turn to him and smile, opening her eyes, “You _have_ been paying attention.”

He was laying there but he was propped up on one elbow looking down at her. His eyes danced with mirth but his voice was serious.

“So was it?,” he asked.

“Love?,” she clarified. Robb nodded. “No, it wasn’t love. He was very sweet but…”

“But?,” Robb prompted.

“But he didn’t make me laugh,” she noted.

Robb grinned, “But you’re such a cheap laugh!”

She sat up, “I am not!”

He chuckled, “Yes you are. You laugh at all of my jokes. Even the ones that aren’t good.”

“Yes, but…,” she started and he looked at her, “Well it’s just that even when they aren’t _funny_ you’re having such fun with them…”

“So you laugh at my jokes that aren’t funny because you like to see me enjoy myself?,” he clarified.

Myrcella shrugged in acknowledgement and he covered his mouth with his hand.

“What?,” she asked.

“It’s just the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard,” he told her from behind his hand.

“So what about you, then?,” she asked.

“When I laugh at your jokes? Pity, obviously,” he deadpanned and the laugh rose from deep in her belly.

“NO,” she argued though, pushing against his chest and he fell dramatically on his back. He looked up at her and she looked down at him. “You and Jeyne. Was it love?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted and her stomach churned in jealousy. “Maybe for a little while it was. But by the end… we didn’t even like each other.”

“That’s sad,” she realized. “Really sad.”

“It was,” he agreed. “And most of it was my fault.”

“I’ve never heard anyone in my life say that,” she told him.

He shrugged, “It’s the truth.”

“Did you…,” she started but then realized she couldn’t ask that.

“Cheat?,” he asked and her blush must have told him that it was what she’d intended to ask. “No, I could never do that to her. To anyone, really. But I wasn’t all that loyal either, as it turned out.”

Myrcella looked down at her lap and she saw out of the corner of her eye, Robb sitting up.

“It was like everywhere I went, no matter where I was, I kept looking in one direction and it wasn’t Jeyne’s,” he went on.

She had a hummingbird in her chest and she felt the corners of her eyes moisten.

“You noticed me,” she repeated softly.

“At first,” he admitted. “That’s what I told myself. That I just _noticed_ you. It was easy to explain away. I _knew_ you, of course I noticed you. You were Sansa’s best friend so of course… my Dad had told me to look out for you so of course… you were beautiful so of course… and then…”

“And then,” she repeated.

“You can’t even look at me,” he teased. “And here I thought you were brave.”

“So did I,” she admitted.

This touch wasn’t like the others. It wasn’t fleeting or barely there. He reached over and took her hand in hers, interlacing their fingers, his palm to the back of her hand, his thumb stroking the heel of her palm.

It was solid, this touch. The kind of sturdiness that beckoned her courage.

She glanced up at him and found his blue eyes on her already. He was so beautiful and he was looking at her like she was too, which meant more than him saying it. People said all sorts of things they didn’t mean. Though, she knew, Robb Stark rarely did.

So when he said, “I realized one day that I was looking for you,” she believed him. 

“Why are you telling me this now?,” she wondered.

He shrugged, “Well there was Trystane and then Jeyne, I wanted to let the dust settle on that. And besides, you never really seem to have time.”

“You’ve never asked me,” she pointed out. Their hands were still clasped but she brought her other and trailed her fingers over the top of his, up his forearms, delighting in the idea that she could touch him. That he wanted her to. “I would have made time for you.” He looked at her and she shrugged, “I’m not sure that this means much but… you’re the only person that’s ever threatened my focus. Even when I drown everything else out, you find a way in.”

Robb’s smile was surprised and bashful and the sweetest thing she’d ever seen.

“Well, then we’re opposites,” he told her, “Because you drown everything out for me.”

And now it was her who was grinning like a fool.

Robb leaned forward and so did she, but she leaned her forehead against his and stopped him. His free hand came up and took hold of her cheek gently.

“Myrcella,” he whisper-groaned against her.

“I know, I know,” she sighed. “But let’s just wait until tomorrow morning. When we haven’t had anything to drink and -“

“This isn’t the wine talking,” he promised.

“I know, but…,” she started, unsure of how she could say what she wanted to. That this was the last first kiss she wanted to have, that for some reason it felt like it was going to be, and she didn’t want there to be any doubt in her mind that they both had meant it. She rubbed her nose against his, “We’ve both waited so long. We can wait until morning. Can’t we?”

His thumb rubbed her cheekbone and though she knew he was disappointed he nodded against her, “Of course we can.”

She pulled away, “Should we go up?”

His eyes crinkled but it was a bit of a grimace, “You go on ahead. I um… just need a minute.” She bit her lip, “That’s not helping.”

That made her giggle and she pressed a quick kiss to his cheek and said goodnight to Grey Wind and then got up. She went up the stairs, and her limbs felt like lead.

It was idiotic. Robb Stark had been about to kiss her and she’d just… well she’d panicked obviously. She didn’t even want to consider what he was thinking about her right now.

And she knew she was in for a sleepless night doing exactly that.

She went into her bedroom and undressed, pulling on light blue cotton pajamas. She brushed her teeth and washed her face and then when there was nothing else to do she got into bed.

She lay there, wondering if she should go back downstairs or to his room.

And then she heard them. Footsteps coming towards her door. She darted out of bed and opened her door as Robb was raising his hand to knock on it.

“That was so stupid,” she admitted.

“That’s okay,” he smiled.

“It’s just that it feels…,” she trailed off.

“I know,” he agreed, reaching for her hand. “I want to get this right too… and I know you wanted to wait until morning but…”

“I was just… I don’t know,” she shook her head.

“No it’s just that,” Robb scratched his cheek with his free hand and then showed her his watch. “Look.”

It was 12:02. Two minutes into the next day.

She giggled, “Very punny.”

“Only you’d think so,” he pointed out. He then wrapped his arm around her back, holding onto her side. “And how do you not kiss the girl who’d laugh at that?”

She stood on her tiptoes and both moved to close the distance between them.

Water rushed in, and she was gripping onto him as he was gripping onto her.

Kissing had never felt like this. She felt like she could burst into flames or take flight or _something_ , anything really. His movements were sure and heavenly without seeming conscious at all. She pressed her body against his, craving his arms around her, wanting him to surround her entirely.

He acquiesced, his arms wrapped around her and he pulled her even closer to him, nearly off her feet.

She wasn’t sure how long they kissed for but it had not been long enough when he slowed, lowering her more solidly to the ground and squeezing her in such a way that it was obvious he’d be releasing her soon. She fought it, stubbornly kissing him more deeply, her arms wrapping around his waist and tugging him to her. She could feel his smile against her lips but she ignored it, pulling one of her arms free and running her hand through his soft curls.

“Mmmmellla,” Robb said against her.

She kissed him again and he fell back into it for a moment, and they were all ragged breaths and wandering hands. She started walking backwards into her room.

He pulled away from her then. His lips were a bright red and his cheeks were flushed, his eyes half-crazed. There was a delight in having caused such a boy to look this way.

He took a step back, “I’m going to say goodnight now.”

“Don’t you want to tuck me in?,” she asked flirtatiously.

“Yes, desperately,” he admitted and then chuckled. “But… I’m going to say goodnight here. And I’m going to see you in the morning.”

“Okay,” she said in a falsely solemn tone.

And then walked away from him and got into bed, turning on her side to face him. He stood there looking at her as she fluffed her pillows and settled down against them.

“I thought you were going to bed,” she noted.

“I am,” he agreed. “I am.”

Even still he made no move to leave.

So she asked, “How about a goodnight kiss? Just one.”

“Just one,” he agreed.

He walked over to her purposefully and her heart thudded with every step. She half expected him to crawl on top of her, wished it too, but instead he knelt down at her bedside.

He reached his hand under the covers and turned her body towards him.

There had never been a boy quite so beautiful as him. Tall and broad, but with a delicately tipped nose and a smattering of freckles across its bridge.

She reached her hand out and touched her fingertips featherlight against the hollow of his cheek. He tilted his chin and pressed a kiss to the heel of her palm.

“Robb,” she whispered.

He reached his other arm down, beneath her body, pulling her up to him and took her lips in his. It was slow and sweet and felt like a thousand flowers blooming all at once.

It was so sweet that she did not want to tarnish it by trying to prolong it beyond its course. So when he released her and lowered her gently back down she tucked her arm beneath her pillow and smiled at him briefly before burying her face in it and wiggling uncontrollably.

“Sleep tight,” he told her, laughter in his voice.

“Sweet dreams,” she mumbled into her pillow.

“Who needs dreams?,” he asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd love to know what you all think :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> oh hi this story is just too fun to write so I have zero chill about posting a ton.

It was still dark when she’d woken up. In a few weeks time it would be light by now, but she’d grown used to waking in the dark, even shuffling to the dining hall before the sun rose.

Somehow, in spite of all of her best planning, she had 8 am classes three days a week. She, not a naturally early riser, had been grateful then that her roommate was because it meant she had a buddy to brave the cold early morning with in pursuit of coffee and egg whites.

It was nice to have slept in her queen bed. She’d never quite gotten used to the twin in her dorm room. She stepped into her slippers and pulled on a chunky sweater over her tank top and went into the bathroom.

She brushed her teeth and washed her face, brushing out her hair until she resembled her normal self.

It was just before seven, but she liked to have time before her first class to wake up. Particularly today, given that she had never used Zoom, only ever heard of it when her Dad had tried to get them all to get it last Christmas, and had no idea how she was supposed to access her lecture.

She walked downstairs as quietly as she was able and turned on the light in the kitchen. They’d ground coffee the night before so she didn’t have to worry about waking anybody and turned on the machine.

Then, because she was Catelyn Stark’s daughter and the hostess for the next two weeks, she pulled out four mugs and arranged the sugar and sweeteners near them so that they’d be easily accessible whenever anybody else wandered down.

As the coffee brewed she walked to the large window and looked out across the lake. There were one or two homes that seemed to have a light on or two. She knew that her family would not be the only one to think of waiting all of the craziness out here. It was hard to believe there was craziness at all, when she looked at the placid lake, the light breeze whistling through the trees and the purple black of early morning.

She checked her phone and read the news updates. JP Morgan had sent all of their employees home, Broadway was cancelling its shows. Cases in Italy were on the rise and people were singing from their balconies.

The coffee pot dinged and she shuffled over to it, pouring herself a generous cup and then adding in sugar and pouring in oat milk until it resembled the color of sand.

She went into the great room and saw everything neat and tidy. A blanket folded over the back of the sofa, the fire having long before died down.

She sat down on the sofa, pulling the blanket around her and sipped her coffee. It had been a fairly restless night, and she thought about sneaking in a nap after her morning classes, having only a meeting with one of her T.A.s later that afternoon.

It had been hard to get to sleep, after the events of the night before. Not that anything had happened, not really. Only that there had seemed to be a shift.

She’d felt it at the stove, when Jon had looked deeply into her eyes. He’d been about to say something, something important. Not about Myrcella, but about _her_. Maybe even them.

He’d said nothing further on the subject, but every so often she’d caught his eye, and there had been times when she’d felt his on her when she’d been too afraid to look for fear of spooking him.

They’d walked upstairs together when she’d determined it was time for bed and he’d looked like he’d wanted to say something but then Ghost had nudged him, wanting to go out and there wasn’t any reasonable excuse for Sansa to wait in the hallway for them to return.

So she’d gone to bed and tossed and turned. Thinking of what it would be like if he knocked on her door, wondering what he’d say if she knocked on his. The possibility that she’d be mortified had deterred her, along with an old fashioned sense that it really ought to be him who came knocking. More than that though there was a need to know that he hadn’t been bullied into it. Worn down. That there had been something other than duty or apathy that compelled him towards her.

She finished her cup of coffee and knew immediately that she’d need another, so she went back into the kitchen to find none other than Jon Snow pouring himself a cup.

He always looked adorable in the mornings, his long black curls entirely askew. He wore his glasses now, which she’d always loved on him, and a form fitting v-neck black t shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants. Not for the first time she wondered what exactly it was about grey sweatpants that made her want to tear them from his body.

“Good morning,” she greeted him.

He looked at her and his eyes crinkled, “Sleep well?”

“No,” she admitted.

“Refill, then?,” he asked, holding up the coffee pot.

She nodded and walked towards him, wondering if she should have put on perfume or if she’d missed any sleep in her eyes.

He focused on her mug though, refilling it but leaving room for her to add her milk to it. As though he knew exactly how she liked her coffee. Like maybe he had paid attention to even something as silly as that.

“What were you going to say? Last night,” she asked.

He didn’t ask her what she meant. Jon Snow didn’t demure.

“I was just going to say that nineteen is old enough for someone to know what they want,” he told her. “And get it.”

She nodded, her heart thudding in her chest, but said, “I’m sure Myrcella will very soon.”

It was obvious. The way she and Robb had danced around one another the night before. The way they’d stayed downstairs when she and Jon had gone to bed. The two were gone for one another, and it was only a matter of time now.

Suddenly Jon was closer to her, nearly imperceptibly but closer nonetheless.

“I thought we weren’t talking about Myrcella,” he said in a low voice.

Her mouth went dry and it took all of her courage to look up at him. His olive skin had patches of pink at the hollows of his cheeks and his perfectly pouted lips were open just a little.

“Did you know what you wanted at nineteen?,” she asked.

Jon shook his head and told her, “At ten.”

Her eyes stung all of a sudden and she felt an almost childish urge to laugh or hug her Mom or something.

“Has it changed?,” she wondered.

They then heard footsteps clomping down the stairs. It could only be Robb and his lead feet.

They broke apart so quickly that Sansa spilled some of her coffee on her hand and she rushed to get a napkin. As she did that Jon went into the fridge and grabbed out the oat milk, leaving it on the counter for her.

She glanced at him as she swiped off the hot liquid and he shook his head.

“Never once,” he told her.

And suddenly, as though they had a language unto themselves. As though she was suddenly fluent in a tongue she’d never spoken, she knew, the way you just know, that he meant her. That he had been wanting her all this time that she had been wanting him. And that for whatever reason he was ready for her to know it.

Robb appeared a moment later, a huge smile on his face. He was dressed already in jeans and a dark green sweater.

“Good morning!,” he greeted them.

Jon merely nodded at him and Sansa did her best to smile.

Robb looked out the window, “It’s beautiful out.”

She and Jon turned to look out the window as well but it was still too dark to see much of anything. They glanced at one another and she laughed as Jon went to put one of the coffee cups away.

If Robb noticed he didn’t seem to mind, opening up the back door to let Grey Wind out and then going into the pantry to grab the kibble.

“Do you need help getting set up today, Dovey?,” he asked as he filled Grey Wind’s bowl. “I had to do a zoom interview a few weeks ago. It’s pretty easy to use but I don’t want you freaking out about your lecture.”

She smiled gratefully. Even when aliens had seemingly taken over his body, Robb was still the best older brother that ever lived.

“Yeah can you help me register?,” she asked, “I’ll go get my computer.”

Robb agreed so she went into her Dad’s office where she’d stashed her school stuff and took out her laptop. She brought it back into the kitchen and set it up at the island, logging in and then opening her university email.

She found the email from her _Revolution & Reformation _T.A. and clicked on it.

Robb came and sat next to her and pointed, “So just click on that link.” She did as he said and it brought up information for her to enter. It was all very basic. Her name and student ID number and her school email address. The only thing took about two minutes. “Okay so now you should download it. It’s fine to access it from the internet but I think it’ll be easier.”

She pushed her computer towards him and let him do whatever he wanted. He pushed it back when she needed to put in her computer password and then moved around a few things and opened it.

“So okay, you’re logged in which means all of the classes that are associated with your email address will appear as meetings at the time you have them. You’ll just click join at the right time and you’re there,” he explained.

“Easy,” she agreed. She knew Robb didn’t have classes on Wednesdays so she asked, “What are you going to do all day?”

He shrugged and smiled, a blush rising on his cheeks, “Whatever. Maybe go for a hike or something. I can run into town and get whatever else we need.”

Sansa had no idea what else they might need. She and Jon had arguably gotten too much the night before, but a part of her had been wondering if they should take stock of some of their _survival supplies_. They had guns in a hunting locker that she never used, but she didn’t even mean that. More like flashlights and medical supplies and that sort of thing, just in case.

“We should make a list,” she agreed.

The dogs perked up and ran to the bottom of the stairs wagging their tails. She heard Myrcella’s feather light footsteps coming down and then her voice cooing good mornings to the dogs.

She appeared a moment later, wearing her blue cotton pajamas and a long grey cardigan over top, her hair pulled up into an artfully messy bun.

“Good morning everybody!,” she greeted them all happily.

Sansa looked over at Jon and he nodded, opening the cupboard and putting the remaining mug back inside.

Myrcella walked over to the backdoor and opened it, stepping briefly onto the back porch. Sansa could feel the cold from where she sat. She watched as her friend walked back inside and closed the door.

“Gorgeous day,” she smiled.

Sansa turned to look at Robb, whose blush had risen to epic proportions. Jon was looking at Myrcella.

“What?,” Myrcella asked innocently, “Did you all sleep well?”

“No,” Robb answered, a grin on his face.

“Me either,” she giggled.

Sansa looked over at Jon who held his middle and index fingers under his chin and then made as though to pull a trigger. She bit her lip to keep from laughing.

Robb stood up, “I’m going to take a walk.”

They all turned in tandem to look at him.

“The dogs,” he explained. “Long drive yesterday. No classes. Um.”

“Oh poor babies,” Myrcella agreed. Then as she was looking down and petting them she said, “I’d like some fresh air.”

“You should…,” Robb started.

Myrcella’s head popped up and she smiled, gesturing behind her, “I’ll just…”

“I’ll wait,” Robb agreed with a solemnity to his tone that implied one of them might be shipping off to war.

Since neither of them were looking at her she pretended to lasso a noose around her neck and pull, which made Jon choke on his coffee.

Neither Myrcella or Robb noticed.

Myrcella smiled one last time at Robb, ignoring her and Jon both and then made for the stairs. She turned back, as though to check whether Robb was still looking at her, which of course he was, and then let out a borderline insane giggle (more like a yelp) and then ran up the stairs.

Jon chucked a dishtowel at Robb’s face.

“What the hell, dude?,” Robb asked.

“Worse than the puns,” Jon admonished him.

“What are you talking about?,” Robb asked.

“Oh come on!,” she couldn’t help but add. “That was… the conversational equivalent of cotton candy.”

“Cotton candy? What does that even mean?,” Robb narrowed his eyes at both of them, his mouth falling open and shook his head, “You guys are just grouchy in the morning.”

“If you pull that shit at dinner you’re eating outside,” Jon informed him.

“Which should be fine,” Sansa reasoned, “Since it’s such a beautiful day out there.”

Jon nodded as though she’d made a really good point and she took a smug sip of her coffee.

Robb looked in between them and then gestured, “This dynamic you two have going? Not a fan. _Not_ a fan.”

Myrcella came down thirty seconds later wearing her Sorel all-weather boots, a pair of jeans and a long sleeve shirt, pulling a sweater on over it. Sansa wondered briefly if she’d been afraid that Robb would leave without her, which was ridiculous. Her best friend was never ridiculous. Which meant that Myrcella adored him so much that reason had actually left her, and that made Sansa smile because the two of them really deserved more than anyone to be so obnoxiously happy.

“Are you going to be warm enough?,” Robb asked her. And before she could answer said, “Let me grab your coat.”

With that Robb disappeared and Myrcella turned smiling at her.

“All ready for your first class, Dovey?,” she asked.

Sansa nodded, “Robb got me all set up.”

Myrcella’s eyes crinkled, “Of course he did.”

Robb came back into the room holding Myrcella’s thin parka. She took it from him and pulled it on, zipping it to her chin.

“All set,” she told him.

“See you guys later,” Robb said without another look at either her or Jon.

They walked out the back door with the dogs and Sansa hurried to the window.

“ _Sansa_ ,” Jon scold-whispered, as though anyone was around to hear him.

She ignored him and watched through the window as Myrcella and Robb walked along. They were holding hands already, Myrcella’s free hand holding onto Robb’s upper arm as they looked at each other, both talking at once.

“That was fast,” Jon said and she jumped, because she hadn’t heard him come up behind her.

She felt him behind her now though, as if her atoms were reaching out for his. He was resting one hand on the window, which meant it was all but wrapped around her.

“Fifteen,” she told him softly.

She turned around then and he was standing so close to her that she had to look up to meet his gaze.

“That’s how old I was,” she clarified. “When I knew.”

She still remembered the day. Coming home crying because she’d seen Jon kissing some girl after class. She’d been horrible to Bran, needing to just get away. At fifteen and hormonal, she’d been used to crying, but nothing quite like that.

She couldn’t help but wonder what might have happened then if she’d told him. And suddenly she felt very old and aware of the time that had passed.

And he’d known even longer.

Her alarm started ringing on her phone and they broke apart. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was 7:55.

“I’ve got -,” she started.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “I’ve got one at 9.”

“See you after?,” she asked.

He smirked, “Yeah I’ll be around.”

She went to go grab her computer but then she felt his hand on her wrist turning her around. It happened so quickly that she barely had a chance to register it before his lips were on hers.

And then everything slowed. Not their hands or their lips, but time itself. It just slowed.

He released her and then had to grab hold of her again when it became very obvious to them both that she was not steady on her feet.

“You’ve um,” he breathed, “Got class.”

She glanced at the clock, it was 7:58. Had they really kissed for three minutes? Had it not been three seconds or three months? She would have believed either.

She leaned up and said, “I’ve got some time,” against his lips and his smile kissed hers.

And then he was kissing her cheek and her nose and her forehead until she was a giggling mess.

“You’ve got class,” he said, pushing himself away from her, waving his hands. “And then _I’ve_ got class.” And then pointed at her, “And then I’m kissing you again. You got that, Stark?”

“Yes,” she grinned.

“Go,” he ordered, but she could hear the smile in his voice.

She went and grabbed her laptop, pressing a quick kiss to his lips and then gasping in faux surprise.

“Are you going to watch me walk away?,” she teased.

“Yes,” he admitted. “Go. But walk slowly.”

She giggled as she sauntered away towards her Dad’s office, and she understood then why Myrcella had hurried to get ready.

It wasn’t that she was afraid Robb wouldn’t wait for her. It’s that she knew that he would, and she just couldn’t stand being away from him a second longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me to my OTPs: you get fluff and you get fluff! YOU'RE ALL GETTING FLUFFFFFFFFF!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo let's just say I upped the rating on this fic 👀

“Thank you!,” she waved at her professor before signing off.

Her first zoom class had been strange but fine. It was funny to see people in their homes, some were sitting at desks or tables, others on the couch, a few were even lying on their beds.

She’d chosen the window seat in the library, supporting her laptop on her knees. This was her favorite room in the house, and it had a quiet, proud look to it conducive to study. The sort of room that ought to be wasted in a lake house and yet felt well-worn and lived in.

They had all staked out their own spots. Sansa had been working in her father’s office, Jon in his room, and Robb would likely be in the kitchen or the living room, wherever he was most assured there would be people making noise.

“You are _such_ a goody goody,” Robb teased from where he lay on the couch pretending to read a book.

“Am not,” she argued half-heartedly.

“Oh please,” he grinned, placing the book on the coffee table and getting off the couch, “If there was a way to sit in the front row of a virtual lecture you would have done it.”

She chuckled and shrugged. She’d always liked school and had always been big into participation, though tried not to be the annoying girl who raised her hand for every question.

Myrcella had surprised herself when she’d agreed after lunch that he could stay in the room. He’d promised to be very quiet and not distract her at all, and true to his word he’d laid there “reading” his book and the one or two times she’d looked over at him he hadn’t turned to look at her. Though the smirk she’d seen as she turned back to her computer suggested he’d noticed her looking.

The truth was, it seemed, that neither one of them really wanted to be apart for very long. Or at all. It was thrilling and unlike anything she’d ever felt before. She was sure it was just the _honeymoon phase_ , but she’d never really had one of those, and she was determined to enjoy each and every phase she got with him.

He walked over to the window seat and took the laptop off her knees. She shifted so that she was sitting cross legged as he sat down next to her.

“What’s your feeling on nerdy girls?,” she asked, wrapping her arms around his neck because she had a pretty good idea.

He cupped her face in his hands and pulled her into a soft kiss.

“Nerdy girls? Eh,” he shrugged and then grinned. “Myrcella Baratheon, goody goody? Very sexy.”

“Ew I hate that word,” she complained with a grumble that turned into a giggle when he scowled at her before kissing her neck. “But really?”

He chuckled against her and then looked in her eyes, “Yes, really. How you are surprised by this I do not know.”

She had never really thought of herself as _sexy_. She knew she was _pretty_ , slender with fine features and good hair, but she’d never really thought of herself as _hot_. Her mother placed too much stock in her looks, so Myrcella never really had. She’d always been adamant that she wanted to be more than just pretty. But that didn’t change how much she loved that Robb found her sexy. Even if she did hate the word.

The truth was though that he made her feel sexy. Not in the sense that she felt hot, though he did make her feel beautiful, but rather that he made her think of sex. Constantly. He always had, even before she knew what it felt like to be kissed by him. He’d walk into a room and her heart would start racing and her mouth would go dry and then he’d simply smile at her and she’d feel wetness between her thighs.

She’d had sex before, but it had sort of just been what she felt like she should do. This was different. It felt like a physical need. Something her body was being deprived of.

He must have seen something in her eyes because his voice was like gravel when he asked, the forming of a smile on his face, “What are you thinking about?”

She bit her lip as she tried to figure out what to say and his eyes widened and she knew then that it was all over her face. He leaned his forehead against hers, catching her in a hot open-mouthed kiss.

She got up on her knees and deepened the kiss, pressing her chest against his, and then she felt his hands on her butt, squeezing it before moving down and taking a thigh in each hand, pulling them apart and dragging her onto his lap.

Her fingers threaded into his soft curls, and he leaned forward, forcing her back to arch and tugged on her bottom lip with his own before he kissed down her chin to her neck. She leaned her head back and he kept kissing down to her collarbone.

Her hands moved out of his hair and down onto his strong shoulders, feeling his large biceps under her fingertips. She lifted her head back up and kissed his forehead and temple and down to his ear. And then his hand was underneath her shirt, gripping her waist, his other hand cupping her bottom.

“Robb, Robb, Robb,” she repeated over and over again, unsure of whether she was telling him to stop or begging him not to.

He pulled away, lifting up his head, as though he too didn’t know. It became apparent though to them both when she immediately closed the distance again, kissing him deeply.

He groaned into her mouth, gripping onto her harder and stood up with apparent ease. Robb walked them over to the door and closed it with his foot and then locked it. He then walked her over to the sofa and knelt on it, lowering her down onto her back. She couldn’t imagine what she looked like, her legs wrapped obscenely around him, her shirt riding up her stomach.

“We both have beds upstairs,” she reminded him with a smile.

He leaned over her, resting on one of his elbows as he traced his fingers across her stomach with his free hand. She was breathing raggedly, her eyes on his fingers.

He looked up at her and pushed her shirt up further, his hand gripping her ribs.

He leaned down and kissed her, his hand traveling up further, his fingers resting at the bottom of her bra, and asked against her lips, “Do you want to go upstairs?”

“No,” she told him.

He removed his hand from her shirt and pushed some hair out of her face, stroking her cheek.

“Do you want to stop?,” he asked gently.

“No,” she admitted. She shook her head, gripping his shirt in her hands, “I want you so badly. I thought I could handle it, we’ve both had enough practice. But I can’t. I don’t want to wait, and I know that’s not what I’m supposed to say, but I want you too badly to care.” She then looked up at him, “Do you want to stop?”

He looked aghast for a moment and then started laughing.

“What?,” she protested. “You might. I shouldn’t just assume!”

He kissed her tenderly, “You’re right sweetheart, it was very kind of you to ask.”

She liked being his sweetheart. He’d called her that on their walk this morning and then their trip into town to the hardware store as he asked her to hold their place in line. Even as they made lunch with Jon and Sansa, in case there had been any doubt as to the way of things.

She lifted up and kissed him again and he fell against her. She tugged up his shirt, feeling the hard muscles of his back. His hand moved back to her stomach and he pushed her shirt up further, leaning up so that he could pull it off.

As he knelt above her, so glorious, lean and strong, she took in his chest and abs and she couldn’t help but smile.

“Look at your body,” she giggled.

“Look at _your_ body,” he grinned.

“You look at my body,” she argued.

He pushed her gently down so that her back was once again on the couch. And then he did just look at her. She blushed as his eyes turned molten looking down at her, felt her nipples peak under his gaze, his mouth slightly ajar.

His eyes trailed up her body until they rested on hers, and both of them let out sounds she’d never heard before when they met. Robb leaned down and unbuttoned her jeans, and she lifted her hips so that he could pull them down and off of her.

He kept his eyes on her as he unbuckled his belt and unzipped his jeans. She had no idea that a man getting undressed could be this hot and she tugged his pants down and he kicked them off quickly. He was wearing grey boxer briefs and they made it very obvious just how hard he was.

Robb moved to get back on top of her but she stopped him with a hand to his chest.

“Are you okay?,” he asked.

She nodded and pushed herself up until she was seated and he knelt above her. She kissed his chest, her fingers tracing over his abs. He cupped her cheeks in his hands and she looked up at him, her bottom lip still against his gorgeous body.

His eyes had turned to blue flames and somehow they no longer needed words. Robb got off of her and sat down on the couch, his back against it and pulled her onto his lap once again.

He moved his hands up her back and undid her bra and she let the straps fall off her shoulders and then he pulled it from her body. And then he was helping her out of her underwear, which was a little tricky given the position that they were in but it didn’t matter when she pulled down his boxer briefs too because they were naked together.

And she learned then that the laughter he had always beckoned from her had been a result of the absolute comfort she felt with him. A comfort she’d never felt with anyone else. That stemmed from the absolute knowledge that she could be herself, just as she was, and he’d never want her to be different.

She kissed him then, slowly and when the time came for him to find the condom, it didn’t break the moment the way she’d heard it often could. He rolled it on and then pressed his fingers to her gently, his breath cracking when they slipped inside of her. She might have been embarrassed with someone else how obvious it was that she was ready, but it was impossible to be embarrassed when Robb Stark was looking at you like you were the most beautiful and impossible thing he’d ever seen.

Myrcella lowered herself onto him and they both let out a sigh of relief when he was inside of her and then laughed at how long suffering they both sounded.

She rocked her hips back and forth and suddenly nothing was funny at all. It was just him and her, and their bodies moving the way they had always been supposed to.

She felt the blood rising on her cheeks as she stifled a moan, and his brow knit in concentration as he held her sides.

She gripped his shoulders as she moved back and forth, letting her head fall back. One of his hands moved to her breast and he squeezed it gently, and when his lips grazed her nipple she gasped in delight.

She looked down at him and watched as his tongue pressed against it. Pink against pink. He looked up at her and then his hand moved in between them to stroke her in that part that made her blood sing.

He was saying something and she was agreeing, to what she did not know. She just kept agreeing and rocking. Heat pooled within her and he was saying something else, coaxing her towards something with his words and his fingers and his lips against her breast.

And then that heat overflowed suddenly and beautifully, but she was still moving, still rocking back and forth as she came down from on high until he stopped her, his arms around her back, gripping onto her shoulders and holding her still as he shuddered.

His hands released her shoulders, moving down her back and stopping at her butt, holding onto it as he rested his cheek against her breast.

She rested her arms on his shoulders, breathing him in and kissing his hair, a dull smile on her face.

“That’s what it’s supposed to feel like,” she mused.

He looked up at her, a sheen on his forehead and a brightness in his eyes.

“I thought I knew,” he admitted, “But I didn’t.”

She lowered herself so that her thighs fully rested on top of his and now it was her who had to tilt her head up to kiss him, which she did. He kissed her long and sweet, his arms wrapped securely around her, warming her body with his own.

He moved them then until they were lying down together facing one another, their legs a tangle but somehow, almost reliably, his hand was still on her butt, keeping her against him as though she had any thought to move away.

She kissed his shoulder as he played with her hair with his free hand and she realized then that they would get to do that over and over again.

She fell down on her back smiling and he looked in bemusement down at her, still on his side, his fingers tracing patterns on her stomach and around her breasts.

“What are you thinking?,” he asked when the curiosity clearly got the better of him.

She giggled, “That we get to do that again.”

“You were not,” he chuckled.

“Yes I was,” she confessed, “I just think it’s so wonderful.”

“That we get to have sex again?,” he asked.

“Over and over again,” she smiled, stretching lazily. “In a hundred different ways if we want to.”

“Oh, we want to,” he agreed readily and she giggled. He grinned and allowed, “That _is_ wonderful.”

“I know,” she reached for him, pulling the back of his head down so that she could kiss him. He kissed her and then pulled back to look down at her. She smiled, her fingers scratching lightly against his scruff, “We get to have sex and fuck and make love and all the rest. And I know that I may be a tad late to this party but I’ll have you know it is _not_ overrated.”

“Fuck?,” he asked with a smirk.

“Bang,” she agreed, winking ostentatiously.

She felt giddy, horribly so, and she knew she was ranting like an idiot but she didn’t care.

“You are a nut,” he chuckled, kissing her again.

She wrapped her arm around his neck and kissed him back. He kissed her until she went dizzy and she could feel him growing once again against her.

“What was it you said after fuck?,” he asked.

“Bang?,” she wondered.

He looked at her, his eyes caressing her cheek bones and lips and eyes, and he shook his head slowly, “No.”

She gulped, her mouth suddenly dry, and it was barely more than a whisper when she asked, “Make love?”

“Yeah,” he agreed, a smile of amazement on his beautiful face, “That’s the one.”

And then he was kissing her again and he was on top of her and then inside of her and she understood suddenly why they called it that.


	6. Chapter 6

For the past four years she had sat with Jon at movie nights and at parties and at family dinners and not been able to kiss him and she had been fine. Sure, she got a little overwhelmed at times, and of course she hadn’t dealt well when he dated someone else, but she had always held it together until she left wherever it was they were.

This afternoon though had been an exercise in restraint. Jon had come to find her that morning, after his class, and had kissed her and kissed her and kissed her. But then Robb and Myrcella had come home from their walk and their errand and they’d all had lunch together. And _nothing_. Nothing since then.

Jon had a bunch of afternoon classes and Robb and Myrcella were off studying, hypothetically, and so she’d gotten started on a paper she had due the next week. She’d hardly been able to type anything though because she hadn’t seen Jon. Or kissed him, or gotten to speak to him about any of it.

She hated to be one of those girls, but this had been so long coming, so terribly overdue, that she wanted to know where they were. Would one of them tell Robb, or would they tell him together? Would they just make it obvious, the way Robb had called Myrcella sweetheart at lunch without actually telling them anything? Was there even anything to tell? Maybe Jon didn’t want to commit to her and then they were nowhere.

It certainly felt a little like they were nowhere, with her sitting in one chair while Jon sat in the other. They were separated by the couch, which for most of the evening had been occupied by Robb and Myrcella.

Myrcella sat there now though with Grey Wind resting his head in her lap. Robb had left the room to answer a call from their Dad and all of them were waiting to hear news from an outside world they’d almost forgotten.

Robb walked into the room a minute later and turned to her.

“Grandpa’s fine,” he told her, “But they are going to stay up there for a little while. Sounds like one of his aids may have it and they don’t want to risk leaving him in case _he_ gets it, and also they’ve technically potentially been exposed. So…”

Worry churned in Sansa’s stomach, “Exposed?”

Robb nodded, “Barely but yeah, they’re not going to risk carrying it elsewhere.” She picked at a thread on her sweater and Robb told her, “They’re all going to be fine, Dovey. It’s just Mom and Dad, they like to set a good example.”

Sansa nodded because that was true. Of course they were modelling the absolute best behavior possible. Her Dad had been sending lots of precautions to their family group text, and had told her and Robb to expect a shipment of zinc and vitamin D any day now. They’d been cautioned about going out too often or seeing anyone, even outside for the time being. So of course, even with an unconfirmed tertiary exposure they’d be remaining put until it was obvious they hadn’t contracted it.

“You okay?,” Robb asked her in concern.

She smiled, “Totally fine.”

He nodded and then placed his hands on Myrcella’s shoulders. Sansa watched as the smile overtook her friend’s face and she looked up at him.

“Want to head up?,” Robb asked her.

“Yes,” Myrcella agreed, and then looked between her and Jon, “Early class tomorrow.”

“Mm _hmm_ ,” Sansa noted.

Myrcella blushed and giggled getting up and plopping a kiss on her head and then whispered in her ear, “ _Might give Jon the opportunity to kiss you again, hmmmm?”_

Now it was Sansa who was blushing and giggling because of _course_ Myrcella knew even though they’d hardly seen one another that day. Sansa watched as Robb wrapped his arm around Myrcella’s shoulders and Myrcella’s went easily around Robb’s waist. There was something between them that hadn’t been there even this morning. An absolute comfort, and Sansa had no idea how they’d achieved it.

She turned back to Jon and found his eyes were on her already. Her skin set on fire and her heart pounded as they listened to Robb and Myrcella’s lilting chatter as they walked up the stairs. Their voices softened then muffled then disappeared entirely with the close of a door. Sansa absently noticed that it was only one door that closed, but it had so little of her focus.

Jon got out of his chair then and so did she, and she’d hardly taken a step when he was there and his arms were locked around her and he was kissing her like he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since this morning.

She kissed him back, so grateful for it to be happening again that for a moment she stopped wondering what it meant or anything else. She grasped onto his shoulders and allowed herself to be kissed. She would have allowed herself to be devoured.

He broke the kiss after a moment and looked down at her and she up at him, before shaking his head and burying his face in her neck. She felt his lips there, trailing the column of it, and then he was kissing behind her ear and she was shivering and his hands were tangled in her hair.

“Jon,” she whimpered, because nothing had ever felt like this, not even close.

“I’m sorry,” he groaned against her neck, lifting his head off of her. His eyes were wild, his grey erased by the black, he kissed her softly once on the lips and leaned his forehead against hers, “It was really _really_ fucking hard not doing that all day.”

“Why…,” she started and he looked at her, “Didn’t you?”

His eyes crinkled, “Because I didn’t know if you’d want me to… in front of them yet.”

Relief flooded her body and she smiled, tears stinging her eyes, “Really? That’s all?”

His face contorted in disbelief and he moved and sat down in the armchair she’d just vacated and pulled her down into his lap. He was large enough to make her feel small, delicate, which was something she didn’t always feel. She’d always been slender but at 5’9’’ she often felt the need to make herself smaller around boys. Not Jon though, who’s large arms encased her and whose broad chest she could snuggle against without fear of hurting him.

She sat down on his lap, tucking her feet up and leaned her head on his shoulder. The fire was still crackling and the calm she’d been missing all day returned to her.

“I’m not like Robb,” Jon pointed out needlessly. “You know uh, I’ve always been pretty private. And you are too. And I just didn’t want to… out us until we’d spoken about it. Myrcella guessed because she’s practically a witch but… Robb is…”

“Robb,” she agreed. And she knew that even though he was upstairs with her best friend right now that he’d have questions for her and Jon if they were suddenly together. She looked up at Jon, “What would we tell him?”

Jon stroked her cheekbone with his thumb, “That is entirely up to you.”

Her brow furrowed, “No it’s up to both of us.”

He smirked, “No, it’s up to you. Because I’m in. I’m done. You’re it. But I’ll take it as slow as you want.”

She looked up at him, at his pouty lips and his sensitive eyes and his black curls and all the rest. She had known him her whole life and never known him to make such a statement as that. And she knew then that all of those things he was giving to her, the confidence and the giddiness and the need, she was giving to him right back. Which made her feel good and brave enough to tell him the truth.

“You’ve always been it for me,” she admitted. “And I spent so long trying to hide that, that I don’t want to anymore.”

She caught a flash of one brilliant smile before he kissed her, and there was heat but more importantly warmth in it. She burrowed against him as they kissed and he held her tighter.

His kiss slowed and he pulled away from her slightly.

“Then we’re together,” he clarified.

She grinned, “Very together.”

“Which means Sansa Stark is my girlfriend,” he said, almost to himself. She looked at him in bewilderment and he shrugged, “Just sort of wish I could tell my seventeen-year-old self that.”

She giggled and kissed him again and wondered what her fifteen-year-old self would think about all of this. There’d probably be a good amount of diary write-squealing.

_Jon Snow is my boyfriend, eeeeee!_ It probably would have said.

_Jon Snow is my boyfriend, eeeee!_ She thought and it was clear from Jon’s look that the squeal had not been entirely in her head.

They reached for each other again and kissed. And kissed. And kissed.

“Do you,” Jon asked in between kisses, “Want,” kiss, “To,” _long kiss,_ “Go upstairs?” Cold shot down her spine and she froze against his lips. “Oh! Shit, Sansa I’m so –“

“No, no,” she shook her head and then gestured between them, “That is the logical question given…”

“Yeah but –“

“I’m a virgin,” she blurted out.

His eyes crinkled at her and he nodded, tucking some now tangled hair behind her ear, “Yeah. I sort of figured that.”

She blushed and he stroked her cheek, kissing the other tenderly. So tenderly she felt tears on her eyelashes as he continued his attention at her temple and forehead.

“Even if you weren’t, there’d be no rush,” he promised her. “So we can sit down here for a while or I can walk you upstairs and say goodnight at your door, or I can come sleep in your room and we still don’t have to do anything.”

She smiled, “You’d come sleep with me even if you don’t get to sleep with me?”

“Baby,” he sighed, “I think you’re not quite comprehending something. I _love_ you. I have loved you since I was ten years old. From a distance, a short distance I’ll grant you. I got pieces of you my whole life… so now… any bit of you I can get I want. I have loved you for eleven years and never once did I think I’d get so lucky as to be in your bed for any reason. So yeah. We don’t have to do anything but sleep and it is still going to be the best night of my life.”

“Well,” she mumbled, “We can do a _little_ more than sleep…”

And then he was laughing and she was too, because really there was nothing she could say to what he’d just said. Everything seemed trivial.

Except, “And I love you.”

He kissed her then, taking one deep breath as though he was jumping off a cliff, and then his lips were on hers and he was holding her so tightly and it wasn’t quite tight enough.

He released her and she got out of his lap and held her hand out for him. He took hers in his own and got up and she turned around and smiled when one of his arms wrapped around her waist. It took them a little longer to walk to the stairs and then they walked up them softly.

When they got to the top Jon gestured to his room, “I’ll just go change and meet you in yours.”

She nodded and he started to walk away and she asked, “Do you have another pair of grey sweatpants?”

He looked at her in bewilderment and shrugged, “Probably.”

She nodded at him and grinned before disappearing into her room. She closed the door gently and then did an all over body shimmy before racing into her bathroom and brushing her teeth and putting on deodorant and spritzing her perfume and walking through it once.

She was already in yoga pants but she went into her drawer and tried to find her cutest pajamas. She knew Jon would roll his eyes at her for even thinking about it but she was still _her_ and she’d feel better knowing she looked cute.

She had a cream colored silk set of pajama pants and a camisole so she changed into those. She wasn’t sure if she should wear a bra, she usually didn’t to bed. She looked in the mirror and realized she could just see the barest hint of her nipples. With a smirk she decided to go braless and then she grabbed her brush and tried to tame the tangles Jon had created.

She was brushing her hair when she heard him knock on her door and she called _come in_ in as light a voice as she was able.

Jon walked in a second later wearing a pair of grey sweatpants and a white v neck t shirt that followed the lines of his body. He’d pulled his curls back into the manbun she loved and was wearing his glasses, having clearly already taken out his contacts.

“Holy fuck,” he said when he looked at her.

She bit her lip but it couldn’t stop her grin, and she raised her brush to her hair again, pulling it through the snarls until it fell once again in a shiny wave across her back.

Sansa placed her brush down on her dresser and walked over to him. He was standing perfectly still but his head fell against her when she kissed his collarbone.

“Grey sweatpants?,” he asked in her ear.

She shrugged and smiled, “Something about them.”

He chuckled and rubbed his hands over her back, the silkiness of her top and on her bare upper back.

“Should we…,” she asked.

Jon cleared his throat, “Yeah.”

She walked over to the side of the bed that she usually slept in and Jon walked over to the other. They both got in and then met in the middle, both of them on their sides facing one another.

It was her who kissed him, not being able to help it, wrapping an arm around his neck and pulling him towards her. He was a wonderful kisser, slow but deliberate, and she wanted him on top of her. Inside of her, really. In a way she’d never wanted anyone else.

She knew she wasn’t quite ready but it didn’t stop her from wanting to feel every part of him.

She hooked her leg around his and then she felt his large hand on her outer thigh, gripping it and moving it up, squeezing her butt.

She gasped against him and he rolled them, pulling her on top of him. She straddled him then, leaning down and kissing him again and she felt both of his hands on her thighs and then her butt and she ground against him, seeking some sort of relief.

And then he was on top of her and he was giving it to her, pressing himself against her as he licked and kissed and nipped down her neck. His hands were on her waist, underneath her camisole.

“Touch me,” she pleaded.

He kissed to her collarbone and then to the tops of her breasts as his hands moved up. She felt him cupping her breasts, his large warm hands squeezing them gently as he kissed in between them.

“God these are perfect,” he groaned and then chuckled looking up at her bashfully, “Sorry to be such a guy.”

“But you haven’t even _seen_ them,” she reasoned and the smile died on his lips as she pulled up her top.

“Excuse me for a moment,” he said then and she giggled.

But then his lips were on her bare breasts and his hands were rubbing them and he was burying his face against them and she was sighing and moaning and gasping for more.

“Jon,” she cried out. He looked up at her and she shook her head, “I… I need… _mmm_ I…”

“Have you ever had an orgasm?,” he asked her. She shook her head and he groaned, “Can I touch you?”

She was confused for a moment because she thought she’d just asked him to but she nodded because she wasn’t thinking straight so maybe she hadn’t said anything at all.

But then he moved his hand from her breast, down her stomach and slipped it underneath her pajama pants. No one had ever touched her there but she wanted him to so she opened her legs.

“ _Fuck_ ,” he whimpered, his eyes closing as his fingers found her center.

He rubbed her gently at first and she bunched her hands in his shirt as his touches became more purposeful. He took up a rhythm and then he was kissing her neck and her chest and her breasts as his fingers stroked and teased her.

“Jon,” she cried.

“You’re so close, baby,” he promised.

He lifted off of her, resting his free arm on the pillow above her and looking down at her.

“You are so beautiful,” he told her then and she moaned in delight, “My beauty, you’re so close, it’s alright just give in, baby, I’ve got you.”

She wasn’t sure how he knew she was scared, but this thing, this climbing, it terrified her even as it delighted her.

“Jon,” she said uselessly again, reaching her hand above her to take hold of his.

He interlaced their fingers and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

“There you go,” he cooed at her gently, “There, that’s it, oh baby.”

She looked in his eyes and realized there was nothing to be afraid of, which was good because at that moment she stopped climbing and started falling. Her eyes squeezed shut and her mouth dropped open and she was moving herself against his hand and he was squeezing hers with his other and…

“Oh my god,” she sighed.

“Oh my god,” he groaned.

She giggled then, stretching her arms above her, before wrapping them around his neck and kissing him. He kissed her ardently back, and it was messy and it didn’t matter because _that’s_ what all the fuss was about.

She pushed him gently off of her and he looked down at her in concern, “Can I make you feel like that?”

He shook his head, “Don’t worry about me.”

“Can I?,” she repeated.

He nodded but said, “But we don’t have to tonight.”

“Show me how,” she said.

He grimaced, “You’re uh, not going to need to do much after that…”

She blushed and repeated, “Show me.”

“Sansa,” he closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers.

There was something holding him back. His goodness, probably, and a fear that he’d be taking advantage of her. But in all her life Sansa had never felt more alive or more in control of her own existence, and all she knew was that she loved him and wanted him to feel everything that she just had.

And though she didn’t know much, she figured that trailing her fingers down his chest and into is sweatpants was a good place to start. She grasped hold of him, he was large and hard, and he groaned against her.

“Show me,” she pleaded as she moved her hand up and down him.

“I’m uh…,” he said, his breath cracking, “Kind of um… oh fuck Sansa,” she repeated what had just made him say that and he fell back against the pillows so she got up on her knees, straddling him and kept rubbing.

“You’re what?,” she asked.

He moaned and smiled, “Kind of enjoying letting you figure it out on your own.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh, so glad you guys liked the last chapter, and so glad that the couples are coming across as distinct, which is always my fear. 
> 
> This chapter, the beginning anyway, is dedicated to amillcitygirl. 😉

“Oh my god, it’s just so terrible,” Sansa cried.

“I know,” Myrcella wept, taking a deep breath and then letting out a sob, “She’s so young.”

“And – and – and,” Sansa went on and Myrcella nodded.

She had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and she lifted one side of it and wrapped her arm around Sansa, bringing her into it. Sansa leaned her head on her shoulder.

“Oh my god!,” Jon exclaimed behind them, rushing around the couch. He sat down next to Sansa and pulled them both towards him. “What’s wrong? Is it your Grandpa?”

“Dovey, you _know_ you can’t handle _An Affair to Remember_ ,” Robb reprimanded in a bored tone behind them. “You’ve got to stop watching it.”

“You stop watching it,” Sansa spat and Myrcella laughed through her tears, wiping her face.

Robb came around and sat on her other side and turned her towards him. His blue eyes sparkled with mirth as he wiped the tears off her cheeks gently.

“You too, huh?,” he asked.

“They just really love each other,” she explained.

“Oh I know they _dooo_ ,” he said in a faux-sympathetic voice, pulling her into his arms.

She pushed her way out of them and held onto Sansa instead.

“Only you understand me,” she told her dramatically.

“Get out the both of you,” Sansa demanded primly and Myrcella buried her face against Sansa’s neck so the boys wouldn’t see her smile, not wanting to soften it for them.

They were unfazed anyway and got up chuckling as Sansa furiously rewound the movie to get back to where they had been before Jon and Robb had come in.

Sansa paused it when they got back to their place and both of them turned to look at the boys, waiting for them to leave.

“Oh it’s just so _sad_ ,” Jon cried.

“She’s so… and he’s so…,” Robb went on.

“Hold me,” Jon pleaded, “Just hold me.”

“GET OUT!,” her and Sansa ordered.

Myrcella chucked a throw pillow at Jon who caught it and spiked it on the floor before doing a little end zone dance.

“Get _out_ ,” Sansa laughed.

“We’re going, we’re going,” Robb promised.

“Where?,” Myrcella couldn’t help but ask.

Robb grinned and she blushed and it was Jon who answered, “Men… cut wood.”

“You’re going…,” she started, feeling a tingling.

“To chop wood…,” Sansa finished and Myrcella could swear she heard her intake of breath.

“Yeah,” Robb nodded, “We’ve been going through a ton of it. We’re leaving the dogs in here with you guys, okay.”

Myrcella glanced at where Ghost and Grey Wind were lying on the floor together in front of the fire. They didn’t appear to even have registered that Jon and Robb came in the room.

“ _Wait,_ ” she whispered, as Grey Wind.

“ _Come back,_ ” Sansa whispered, as Ghost.

“Traitors,” Jon shook his head at the dogs, rather than them.

Robb clapped him on the chest and they turned around and walked out the back door, joking about something.

They’d been at the house for a few days, and though the second full one had been a bit awkward considering Jon rather unceremoniously told Robb that Sansa was his girlfriend and he didn’t _care_ if that was weird for him, after Robb had merely asked him to pass the butter, for the most part they’d been having a truly lovely time.

They’d seen the cases rising in New York City and San Francisco was on lockdown. It had been confirmed that Grandpa Tully’s aid _did_ have Covid but thankfully neither he nor any of the Starks were showing any signs of symptoms. They’d had classes and one major technical difficulty when they all tried to be on zoom lectures at once.

It felt strange to say, given everything going on, knowing that nobody had any idea how bad it could get, but she was really having a wonderful time.

Robb had been more taken aback by how Jon delivered the news than the news itself. She’d been sort of prepping Robb on the topic already, so it hadn’t come as a surprise, and after that breakfast there had been no awkwardness.

Except of course when Robb grabbed her ass while they were playing beer pong that night and Jon nearly took his arm off.

“So,” Sansa said, “Should we start watching again?”

“Yeah…,” Myrcella agreed, “We could do that.”

“I’m kind of thirsty,” Sansa said with a sly smile.

“Me too!,” Myrcella squealed.

They both got off the couch and ran into the kitchen, bypassing the fridge and the bar and the sink and all the other places that they could get something to drink and running to the window.

Jon and Robb had already made it to the little stumps where they were going to chop the logs. They each had a pretty big pile and Myrcella half wondered where they’d gotten it and half wondered if Robb _really_ intended to wear his sweatshirt while he did it.

Jon clearly wasn’t going to and he pulled off his henley, revealing his black undershirt and put his first log up on the stump. He lifted the axe over his head and brought it down, chopping it in half in one swing.

“Oh,” Sansa said, sitting on the window sill.

“Well done you,” Myrcella agreed.

Even though it was purely friends between them, she could still appreciate a male form when it was as perfect as Jon’s. She was an Art History major, after all, she knew what a body was supposed to look like.

“Stop looking at him, look at Robb,” Sansa ordered.

Myrcella grinned, her eyes clouding as Robb pulled off his sweatshirt from the back collar, the way only hot guys ever did.

“Oh I am,” she promised, sitting down next to Sansa.

She watched as Robb set the log up, and bring the axe down in one long, hard, swing.

“Well that was not _his_ first time,” she realized.

“No they’ve been doing this since they were fifteen,” Sansa said absently as she watched Jon.

“And you didn’t realize you were into Jon until _you_ were fifteen,” Myrcella noted as she tried to figure out how to ask Robb to wear a flannel shirt in bed that night. “Were you, blind?”

“Must. Have. Been,” Sansa agreed.

They had each chopped about six or seven logs when they took a break. She could see Robb was sweaty from here.

“Come on…,” she pleaded softly.

“You can do it…,” Sansa promised Jon from afar.

As though they’d heard them, Robb and then Jon lifted the hems of their shirts, revealing their abs to wipe their faces.

Myrcella started clapping and Sansa cracked up. Unfortunately, the boys heard one or the both of them because they both turned at the same time.

“Get down!,” Sansa ordered and they both dropped to the ground, giggling messes.

“Oh my god,” Myrcella cackled. “We’re peeping tom’s!”

Sansa held onto her laughing, “Do you think they saw?”

“Jon WAVED at me,” Myrcella realized and then a whole new wave of laughter took over.

“We are never going to live this down,” Sansa noted.

“Oh please like they’d be any different if –” Myrcella started, an idea formulating.

“If what?,” Sansa asked.

“Okay, okay,” Myrcella grinned. “Your Mom has yoga mats right?”

“Yeah bu- _oh_ ,” Sansa grinned and then wrapped her arm around her, “Have I told you glad I am that you’re here?”

Myrcella laughed and then they both snuck towards the stairs without fully standing up and then ran up the backstairs and into their rooms.

Myrcella went into her drawers and grabbed out her light pink yoga pants and her matching sports bra. She pulled her hair up into a perky ponytail and ran back downstairs.

Sansa came down a moment later.

“Oh well done,” Sansa congratulated her.

Myrcella looked at Sansa’s black yoga short shorts and black tank top, “And _you_ with those legs.”

“These old things?,” Sansa wondered, strutting playfully as she unraveled the yoga mats and placed them down.

They decided that it made more sense to actually _do_ yoga then just sit there waiting for the boys to get back, so they did some sun salutations and a few of the more challenging cycles their on-campus yoga teacher had taught them.

“Oh ladies,” they heard Jon call after a little while.

“ _Plow pose plow pose plow pose_ ,” Myrcella whisper-ordered.

For a second she thought Sansa was going to derail the whole thing by laughing but they each managed to get into the pose as they heard Jon and Robb walking towards them.

“Did you guys enjoy your little sho- _oh_ ,” Robb stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her.

“Breathe in, Sansa,” Myrcella ordered, then asked Robb, “What was that?”

“Hmm?,” Robb asked.

“You said… _ooh_ this feels so good but let’s come out of it,” she said as though having lost her train of thought.

She breathed in and came out of the pose carefully, sitting up and then spread open her legs wide and leaned forward, supporting herself on her elbows.

“Do you um…,” Robb asked.

“Can I…,” Jon started to ask Sansa.

“Do you want to join us?,” she asked Robb innocently.

He narrowed his eyes at her and she winked at him, before stretching even further.

“Well played,” he allowed. “A _worthy adversary_.”

She grinned at the floor and straightened up slowly, placing her feet on the opposing knee and turned to one side and then the other. It had started off as a way of screwing with them but it really did feel nice to stretch.

“Namaste?,” Sansa asked.

“Namaste,” Myrcella agreed then looked at Robb, “Strength, please.”

He grinned and offered her both of his hands and pulled her up, pulling her against him.

“Let’s go get na-nasty,” he said in her ear.

“EW!,” Sansa argued and she and Robb both turned to look at her, “Ew ew _ew_.”

“That might have been the worst pun yet,” Jon sighed as he helped Sansa to her feet.

“Not my point,” Sansa argued. She looked at Robb again, “Ew.”

“Yeah ew Robb,” Myrcella agreed and Robb looked at her in horror, “I mean yes, definitely, of _course_ , what are you waiting for, but _ew_.”

“El,” Jon groaned.

She chuckled and leaned back against Robb’s chest. His arms came around her immediately and he smelled sweaty and woodsy and manly and she was starting to lose whatever upper hand she’d just regained.

“So,” Robb said, “Weird question.”

“What is it?,” Sansa asked.

“The Umbers are here,” Jon said. “Want to know if we want to hang out.”

Myrcella had almost forgotten about the outside world. Other than her trip into town with Robb the first day she hadn’t left the house except for runs and walks, and while she knew it was _there_ she hadn’t really thought about seeing anyone other than the checkout person at the store.

“Oh,” she said. “I feel like…”

“No, right?,” Robb asked. “I wasn’t sure if we were being overly cautious.”

“Yeah…,” Sansa grimaced, “No… I sort of feel like this is our bubble now…”

Jon nodded, “Text them back and tell them we’ll see them when the dust settles.”

Myrcella leaned her head back against him, looking up, “Is that alright?”

He smiled down at her, “Of course it is, sweetheart. I didn’t think we should anyway, but if you two aren’t comfortable with it then it is an absolute no go. _Always_.” She smiled up at him and he looked at her in confusion, “What?”

“Nothing,” she shook her head, her throat thick. Then lighter, “Nothing.”

He looked at her like he didn’t quite believe her but squeezed her tighter and asked Jon something about a class they took together.

Myrcella met Sansa’s eyes and Sansa mouthed _Are you okay?_

Myrcella shrugged and then confessed _I love him._

_Duh_ Sansa mouthed back.

Myrcella let out a deep breath, wondering if it was obvious to everyone apart from her. She’d spent so long convincing herself that she couldn’t love Robb without actually being with him, that she’d started to believe it. But now she was with him. And all of the feelings she’d tried to repress for so long had come bubbling to the surface, overflowing and threatening to make a mess of everything.

She knew he was in it, fully, but the word love was enough to send anyone running for the hills. Especially since they’d only been together a few days.

“I’m going to go shower,” she announced to the room.

“Me too,” Sansa agreed and followed her out of the room.

They started walking up the stairs and Sansa stopped her when she got to the landing.

“I thought you knew,” she whispered.

“How would I know?,” Myrcella whispered back. Then wondered, “How did you?”

Sansa’s eyes widened and she shrugged, shaking her head, “I don’t know… you know it’s a thousand little things and a few really big ones.”

Myrcella nodded and whispered, “It’s really scary.”

“I know,” Sansa whispered back, “Try being a virgin.”

All of a sudden she felt like such a jerk. She had known that Sansa was a virgin but she hadn’t asked about her and Jon because it was none of her business, and besides, with Myrcella sleeping with Sansa’s brother it was a little strange to be speaking about their sex lives. And Sansa had always been private. But of course she was freaking out.

“So you haven’t,” Myrcella confirmed.

Sansa shook her head, “No, and he’s been so patient and we do… other things.”

Myrcella smiled reassuringly at her, “And you’ve enjoyed them?” Sansa blushed so Myrcella teased, “Well done Jon. Look Dovey, he’d wait for you forever. So don’t put too much pressure on yourself.”

“Does it hurt?,” Sansa asked.

Myrcella nodded, “A little, at first. But not as bad as you think it will. I’ll just say that if the fear of pain is the only thing stopping you then don’t let it. But if it’s something else, if you want to wait or need more time or anything, then that’s okay too.”

“It’s just a really big step,” Sansa told her.

“I know,” she agreed. “And you remember me after my first time, probably. I think I was so disappointed though because I had thought everything would click into place but it didn’t. And it wasn’t until Robb that I realized the problem wasn’t sex it was who I was doing it with. Oh god sorry I know that must be weird for you to hear.”

“A little,” Sansa said, “But helpful too.”

Myrcella squeezed her hand, “We can have a sleepover tonight, me and you. Leave the boys and all this love and sex stuff behind and just hang out.”

Sansa shook her head, “No I… This was good.”

“Good,” Myrcella smiled, “I’m just going to go shower…”

Sansa nodded and Myrcella headed towards her room.

“El,” Sansa called softly and Myrcella turned around. “He loves you too.”

Myrcella gulped and asked, “How do you know?”

“Because I have eyes,” Sansa said and Myrcella rolled her eyes. Sansa smiled at her, “And I’m his sister. And I may not know much, but I know love when I see it.”

_Love you_ Myrcella mouthed.

_Love you_ Sansa mouthed back.

Myrcella went into her room and undressed, throwing her yoga clothes in the hamper and then went into her bathroom and turned on the shower. She got inside and stepped under the hot water.

She squirted some of the delicious shampoo into her hand and worked it into her hair.

She was letting that soak into her hair when she heard the door to her room close.

“Sansa?,” she called.

A moment later Robb appeared, “Sorry to disappoint.”

She smiled, “You could never.”

“I’m pretty dirty too,” he explained.

“Yeah you are,” she teased and he grinned. “Get in here.”

He undressed quickly and stepped into the shower. She moved out of the way slightly so that he rinse.

“Should I keep my hair like this forever?,” she asked, posing ridiculously.

“For _ever_ ,” he agreed, pulling her to him, underneath the water.

He tilted her chin up and kissed her and it felt so good to be kissed by him, it always did, but especially now.

He released her slightly and she tilted her head back so that she could rinse the shampoo from her hair. Robb got behind her and combed his fingers through her hair, pressing kisses to her hairline.

He nosed at it, breathing her in, and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

“Everything okay with you?,” he asked. “You and Sansa seemed kind of serious.”

She nodded, “Yeah. Everything is perfect.”

“You’re perfect,” he told her.

She smiled and turned around, “No I’m not. But this… us… it feels perfect. Doesn’t it?”

He smiled, “Yeah. It does.”

“And do you think anything could ruin that?,” she wondered, closing her eyes, “I mean do you think that there’s something I could say or…”

“You’re scaring me, sweetheart,” he told her, taking her cheeks in his hands, “Look at me.”

She opened her eyes and found him looking at her in concern and she shook her head and wasn’t sure if it was water or tears running down her face.

“No, no it’s just that I love you,” she confessed, “I’m in love with you and it’s really overwhelming. And it’s only been a few days I know that, so there’s no pressure to say it back. I just don’t want to lie to you, and not telling you would be a lie so I told you but you don’t have to say anything. We’re perfect. Still.”

Robb nodded, stepping away from her slightly and dread seized in her chest.

“You…,” he said.

“Yeah,” she admitted. “But –“

“I love you so much,” he exulted. “I look at you and I just… I just _love_ you. I just… it freaks me out how much I love you.”

“It’s really scary,” she agreed.

“I should have told you first,” he said, “So that you didn’t have to be afraid.”

“But then you would have been afraid,” she pointed out.

“Yeah well I’d rather…,” he said.

“Me too,” she agreed.

He looked at her and smiled and she smiled back. Because both of them would rather be the one in pain if it meant sparing the other from it, and what was love if not that?

“Well I’m going to kiss you now,” he informed her.

“Good idea,” she agreed.

They stepped towards each other and if she’d thought she knew what kissing could be she realized then that she still had quite a bit to learn. That was perfectly fine with her though as Robb hugged her body to his and their lips wandered over one another’s.

“Robb,” she whimpered.

“Yeah,” he agreed, bending down and picking her up by the back of her thighs and holding her against the wall of the shower.

He was inside of her in a moment and they both cried out. She kissed him as he thrust in and out of her.

He broke the kiss, leaning his forehead against hers as his thrusts became more erratic, less purposeful, and she felt herself rising.

“I love you,” he said against her lips, “God do I love you.”

“So you’ll wear a flannel shirt to bed tonight?,” she asked.

“What?,” he questioned.

She moaned and laughed, “Oh nothing. _Oh_ _Robb…_ ”


	8. Chapter 8

“When did you learn to make this?,” Sansa wondered.

Jon shrugged, “Mum taught me when I was younger. Since she worked nights sometimes…”

Jon’s Mom had been a nurse, but she’d passed from cancer during Jon’s freshman year of college. He’d told her the day before, when they were watching the news and seeing doctors and nurses crying on MSNBC, that he was almost glad she wasn’t here for this. Being used as a sacrificial lamb, endangering herself to save others.

“Well, she did a wonderful job,” she told him truthfully.

He’d made them lamb chops and sauteed green beans and cauliflower au gratin. When it had become clear that Robb and Myrcella would not be joining them for dinner – not that Sansa was surprised given what Myrcella had likely told Robb – they’d wrapped the extras up.

She’d wanted to help but he’d poured her a glass of wine and had her sit with him while he worked. He was more talkative with her than with other people, she’d noticed, but even still he worked mostly in silence. He was confident though, each movement sure, and she wondered how he made something as simple as salting a pan an act of poetry.

When dinner was ready they’d taken it into the dining room. They hadn’t used it yet, but as soon as they sat down it had made Sansa smile. She and Myrcella would convince the boys to use it more, maybe even make everyone dress for dinner.

They were having a lovely time, but already the days were starting to blur. She was grateful that she had so many classes, it helped her retain a structure. She had seen people on the internet drinking at all hours of the day, and though she didn’t judge them – unprecedented times called for any manner of coping that was needed – it was not the way forward for her.

Thankfully, Jon, Robb and Myrcella all seemed to agree, though none had discussed it. Myrcella was reliably devoted to her studies, and after living together for nearly two years, the two of them had developed an innate understanding of when not to distract the other.

“Do you have more studying to do?,” Jon asked.

She smiled and shook her head, “No, I got a lot done this morning. Do you?”

“No I’m good, I’ll have to put in some time tomorrow though,” he noted.

“What should we do?,” she asked, embarrassed by the way her voice rose in pitch.

He chuckled, clearly having noticed, “I uh… don’t know. We could watch a movie.” She nodded slowly and his lips twitched, “Or we could not…”

“Whatever you want,” she demurred.

“What is happening right now?,” he asked her bluntly, the crinkle of his eyes softening it.

“I think…,” she said, playing with her fork, “That I’m ready.”

“Okay,” he said.

“Okay?,” she asked.

He ran his hand through his hair, “I felt that picking you up and running you upstairs would be a little inappropriate.”

Her smile stretched her cheeks and there was delight in her voice, “Maybe a little.”

“Can I ask you a question?,” he wondered and she nodded. “Is this because of the wood chopping?”

She threw her head back and laughed, because honestly it was the most ridiculous question she’d ever heard.

“Of course it is,” she teased.

He blushed and after a moment laughed. Sansa got out of her chair and Jon pushed his slightly away from the table. She sat down on his lap and rested her forearms on his shoulders.

“You’ve been so patient,” she told him.

He rolled his eyes, “It’s been less than a week. Let’s not erect statues in my honor.”

She blushed at the word erect and then banished that childish thought.

“Even still,” she went on, “You’ve made everything so lovely.”

He wrapped his arms around her back, rubbing between her shoulder blades and pulling her closer to him.

“So have you,” he told her. He pulled her closer still and their cheeks rubbed against one another’s, and she nuzzled her temple against his. “And if it’s what you want it’s what I want too.”

“I want you,” she whispered in his ear and felt herself moisten at his intake of breath and the way his hands gripped onto her.

“Say that again,” he pleaded.

She smiled and kissed the shell of his ear, before grazing her teeth along the lobe, “I want you. So badly, I’ll even leave the dishes till morning.”

“Oh so you mean business,” he teased, but his voice had taken on that almost tortured quality it got when they were close like this.

In truth she wasn’t sure how she hadn’t noticed before. She affected him so strongly, as much as he affected her, and she must have been blind before not to see it.

She stood up and held out her hand, “Come to bed.”

He took her hand in his and interlaced their fingers as he stood up. She rested her hand on his arm and he lead her through the dining room into the hall and then up the stairs.

They went towards her room, where they had been sleeping each night, and he stopped as they got to her doorway and let her lead them in.

When they got inside she felt her stomach turn in knots, “Jon.”

“Sansa,” he answered.

“I want to do this, I’m ready to do this. But… I need you,” she confessed.

His hands were gently on her neck and his thumbs pushing her jaw up so that she could look at him, “You have me. All of me. Always.”

She shook her head, “I need you to… be in control um… you know and do whatever you think will…because I don’t know. So I’m just… I’ll tell you if something doesn’t feel good or anything but just…”

He leaned down and kissed her, his hands moving into her hair. Her body fell against his as she let herself be kissed, as every thought fell out of her head as he’d likely intended it to.

“You have no idea,” he told her, “What your trust means to me. And I _love you_.”

“I love you,” she whispered.

He turned her around and pulled her against him. He pushed her hair to one side and pressed kisses to her neck. His hand was on her hip and he pushed gently against her.

“Can you feel what you do to me?,” he asked. She nodded, her mouth dropping open. His hand holding her hip moved towards her center and he unbuttoned and then unzipped her jeans. She felt his hand going under her underwear and then he was touching her. “There is nothing in this world like touching you. So perfectly wet for me.”

He was supporting her weight entirely as he stroked and teased her. His other hand dipped into her shirt and then underneath her bra and he squeezed her breast gently.

“ _Jon_ ,” she whimpered, rocking herself against his hand.

“That’s it, baby,” he assured her. “I’m going to make you come with my hand, and then with my mouth. We have all night, and every night after that, so we’re just going to take our time.”

She could feel herself building, he knew exactly how to touch her. She was climbing and climbing and climbing, and there was no fear now. Not when she knew what waited for her on the other side.

“ _Jon Jon Jon Jon,_ ” she was whispering or shouting or maybe just thinking.

He just kept stroking her and kissing her and whispering assurances and words of love as though they really did have all the time in the world and suddenly she didn’t want to wait at all.

She came with a whimper, slumping against him. He held her steady and upright and close.

She tilted her head back and he kissed her lips, his tongue whispering against hers.

When she’d regained some of her composure she turned around and kissed him more fully. Her hands went to the hem of his t shirt and pulled it up, revealing his hard, toned abs and chest.

He let her take it off of him and then he was pulling off hers and undoing her bra.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her until her back arched and then he paid his attentions to her breasts. She stroked her hands through his curls and she felt one of his hands moving down her back and taking hold of the back of her jeans and pushing them slowly down.

She shimmied out of them and she was naked before him except for her pale pink lace thong.

He looked down at her with that look of his that made her feel all-powerful. A mixture of awe and delight and reverence and love.

He placed his hands on her hips and walked her back to her bed, sitting her down on it and then he knelt on the ground before her.

Jon had used his mouth on her the morning after their first night together and she’d had to cover her face with a pillow so as not to wake the whole house. Since then he’d done it every day, multiple times a day sometimes. Neither of them, it seemed, could get enough of it.

He pulled her underwear down and kissed her knees and the inners of her thighs. And then he buried his face in her. She cried out but he knew enough by now not to be afraid of that. He licked and sucked and kissed and her hands wove into his curls once again. She knew he loved it when she pulled on them but she was only distantly aware of that as she did, needing something to hold onto.

She felt his hands on her thighs, moving upwards until his thumbs were playing with her as well. And then slowly she felt him push a finger inside of her, moving it in and out as his mouth continued its ministrations at a patient, comforting, intoxicating rhythm. And then there were two fingers and he was groaning against her as he moved them in and out and the vibrations brought her closer and closer.

She was rocking her hips against his face and his fingers and then he was using three and “ _Oh god!_ ”

He kissed her thighs and her stomach as she came down.

“Oh,” she said softly, as she panted.

Jon stood up and unbuttoned his pants and pulled them down, and then his briefs. He was so hard for her, even more so than when they’d gotten in here, and she wanted him so badly she couldn’t see straight.

She reached her arms out for him and he returned to her slowly, putting one knee on the bed and hooking his arm underneath her back. His eyes were on hers as he hoisted her as though she weighed nothing at all up the bed until her head rested on the pillow.

He looked down at her and she reached her hand up to stroke his cheek. He kissed her wrist, but there was a sadness in his eyes, or something quite close to it.

“What’s wrong?,” she wondered.

“Nothing,” he shook his head, but his voice was gruff, “I just really love you. And I want… you’re the most important person to me in the whole world. And you’re so brave. And beautiful. And good.”

She felt a tear fall down her cheek and her voice was quiet when she asked, “Are you nervous?”

“I know I’m not supposed to be-“

“Says who?,” she wondered.

She pulled his arm down until he was lying all but on top of her. She kissed his cheek and his forehead and his nose and his eyelids and his lips.

“I wish it would hurt me,” he admitted.

“Yeah I got the bad end of that deal, huh?,” she asked and he smiled and nodded and she kissed him again. “You know what? I’m so proud of myself. For waiting for it to be with you. No one else would care this much or be as gentle or as strong. But I waited for _you_. The only boy I’ve ever loved, the only man I’ll ever love.”

“I was supposed to talk you through this,” he said after a moment. “But of course it’s you getting me through it.”

“Maybe that was silly of me,” she admitted. “Maybe we can just be here for each other.”

“Are you ready?,” he asked, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. He leaned in as though he was going to kiss her but he smiled instead, “Because we can give it another go if you want.”

“I’m ready,” she whispered.

The smile died but his eyes crinkled and he did kiss her then. He sunk into it against her and then he was pulling her legs gently apart so he could get in between them.

She felt him against her and she expected to be afraid but it was impossible to be when she was looking into his eyes. She nodded at him briefly and he took her thigh in his hand and pushed into her slowly a little bit. And then a little further. In slow, gentle strokes.

There was discomfort, but something changed as she watched his face contort in pleasure and then she was placing her hands on his back and urging him closer.

“Sansa,” he moaned.

She lifted her hips then and gone was the last barrier and his hips were at hers.

“Holy fuck,” he whispered.

She took her time adjusting to him. She felt full, fuller than she ever had, and though there was still some discomfort she could tell that it wouldn’t remain very long.

Jon kissed her then and started rocking into her slowly. She could feel it, his pleasure. It was visceral and intoxicating. His breath came in quick spurts and every muscle was flexed in concentration.

And then he rolled his hips and she saw stars. And suddenly her body wasn’t accommodating him it was begging for him.

“ _Jon_ ,” she cried in his ear, “Do that again.”

He lifted off of her slightly, holding himself up off the bed and looked down at her. Her eyes were on his as he rolled his hips again. Her eyes rolled back and closed and he did it again. She opened her eyes and was surprised that he wasn’t looking at her face. Instead he was looking down, where their bodies were joined.

She followed his gaze and watched in wonder as he rocked his hips again, his length going inside of her. She had never seen anything so erotic in her entire life and she felt herself clench around him.

Jon, clearly having felt it too looked up at her and she let out a moan at the fire in his eyes.

He rolled his hips again, kissing her.

“I’m not going to last long,” he warned her, “Do you think you can come again?”

She nodded, unbelievably, and he grinned and kissed her cheek. He supported himself on one of his forearms and got up more on his knees, and reached a hand in between them and started strumming her as he thrust into her.

And after that it was all breaths and moans and promises.

“I can feel you,” he told her as she rose and rose and rose, “I can feel you. You’re so close, baby. You feel so _fucking good_.”

“Tell me again,” she pleaded.

There were a million different things that she could have meant, but Jon knew.

“I love you,” he said, “More than anything in this world.”

And it could have been the feel of him inside of her or his fingers strumming her expertly but it wasn’t, it was that, and then she snapped and was _falling_.

“Are you…,” she cried out.

“God yes,” he sputtered.

He thrust into her once more and then his face contorted in the most gorgeous depiction of pleasure she’d ever seen.

He collapsed on her then and the pair of them were breathing rapidly and sweaty somehow. He kissed her lips once and then her neck and her breasts before laying his cheek on them.

He’d worried at first that he was too heavy for her but she’d assured him that she liked to feel his weight on top of her. It was comforting and she liked that maybe she was comforting him too. She ran her fingers through his hair, enjoying the quiet.

They laid like that for a little while and then Jon looked up at her. She smiled and was surprised when his face turned serious.

“You’re crying,” he explained softly.

“I am?,” she asked, almost not believing it until he brushed the tear from her cheek. She smiled, “Happy tears.”

He kissed one cheek free of tears and then the other and then kissed her smiling lips.

He moved off of her and rolled on his back, pulling her with him, until she was snuggled into his warm chest. His fingers traveled her arm and back as his lips rested against her forehead.

“What was your first time like?,” she wondered.

“Sansa,” he groaned.

“You don’t have to tell me,” she yawned, suddenly feeling the most delicious tiredness, “I was just curious.”

“Quick,” he said after a moment.

She smiled and she felt him smiling too. She looked up at him and he peered at her seriously.

“So it wasn’t like that?,” she asked.

“Nothing,” he said, kissing her, “Has ever been like that.”

“Well,” she nodded, “These are truly unprecedented times then.”

Jon groan-chuckled, “I’m going to murder Robb. He’s infected us all.”

“Co-pun-avirus, am I right?,” she agreed.

“What can I do to make this stop?,” Jon chuckled.

“Well…,” she smiled slyly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd love to hear what you thought of our sweet little Jonsa! 
> 
> As you may have seen, I'm going to end this story in the next chapter. I have just LOVED writing it this week (has it just been this week?) but it was *really* meant to be a one shot so I feel like I should end it before it starts to drag on.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huuuuuuuge thank you to Nolita280 for this wonderful prompt. It was so fun to write and I'm so glad you all are on board with my ending it here before it started (I hope at least) to drag.
> 
> I wanted a silly fluffy end to this silly fluffy fic, but I will tell you that I knew what the last line would be from the very beginning.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed as much as I did and will join me for my next piece of fluff!!

“Alright, we can do this,” Myrcella assured them.

Ghost and Grey Wind looked up at her happily, like _they_ knew that, their tongues lolled out of their mouths. They’d gone on a run, a long one, and now they just had the last hill up to the Starks.

She took a deep breath and started running faster. She got in front of Ghost and then he pushed slightly ahead of her. Grey Wind was a few paces in front.

They never let her win.

“Good boys,” she panted as they got to the top of the hill.

She walked up the back steps and as soon as they got inside the dogs ran to their water dish immediately, making her feel like their bravado had been at least a _little_ bit a bluff. She pulled off her long sleeve workout top and went into the living room.

Sansa, Jon and Robb were all sitting on the couch watching something. None of them turned to look when she entered.

“Hey,” she greeted them.

She got a mixture of high and low pitched grumbles.

She stroked her fingers through Robb’s hair, “I’m going to go shower.”

“K, love you,” he agreed without turning around.

That was unlike him but she felt too gross to give it much thought. She went upstairs and took a nice long shower and blow dried her hair. She pulled on a pair of pale green joggers and a fuzzy cream sweater, stepping into her slippers.

She grabbed her laptop and checked her emails. Most were just class slides and junk emails, but she saw one from her Baroque Art History TA.

_Dear Myrcella,_

_We’ve finished grading all of the midterms and will be distributing the results later today, but I wanted to let you know that you got a 98. Your discussion of being able to date Dutch Still Life paintings based on the objects included in the scene was Masters level – particularly as it was written in under ten minutes. The Chinese Export stuff was so interesting and forced me to google to confirm!_

_I sent along your test to Professor Harmon, as I know you wanted to take the Ferdinand Bol seminar with him. He has been my advisor since freshman year and I have never seen him more enthusiastic!_

_He said, and I quote, “She will be the perfect end to my long career.”_

_You’re in! Well done._

_I hope you and yours are surviving all this craziness to the best of your ability. I’ve decided to do my Masters here as well, so let’s stay in touch. I’m sure you’ll be thinking of internships for next summer and I have a few ideas._

_Best,_

_Sadie_

She couldn’t help but squeal and do a little shimmy. She had _done_ it. Something she had worked steadily for the past two years to achieve, she had _done_ it.

Myrcella typed Sadie back a gracious thank you note, congratulating her on being accepted into the Masters program and noting that she couldn’t imagine a better mentor. She then forwarded on the email to her academic advisor, asking to meet next week so that they could plan out her courses around the seminar to ensure she met all her other requirements.

Feeling light as air she walked back downstairs and into the great room. Jon and Sansa and Robb were still on the couch, Ghost and Grey Wind piled in front of it still panting. There was a little room next to Robb on the couch so she went to sit down next to him.

She sat up on her knees and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pressing a kiss to his cheek. He pushed his cheek against her but otherwise made no move to reciprocate.

“Guess what,” she said in his ear.

“Hmm?,” he asked.

“I got into the seminar!,” she exulted.

“Congratulations!,” he said, smacking his hand on her thigh and rubbing it without even looking at her.

“Okay that’s it,” she shook her head, “What are you all watching?”

She looked at the screen and there were people in truly insane clothing with ridiculous hair cuts and… _why is there a tiger there?_

Jon lifted the remote and paused it and both Sansa and Robb turned on him immediately in an almost vicious manner.

“It’s called Tiger King,” Jon explained.

“Tiger King,” she nodded, having seen something on twitter about it.

“It’s terrible and I love it,” Sansa noted.

“Okay then,” Myrcella nodded, getting up.

The three of them had clearly gone into some sort of trance as Jon wordlessly lifted the remote and they all settled back against the couch. She rolled her eyes and got up, walking into the kitchen.

She went into the pantry to see if they had chocolate chips to make brownies. They did have chocolate chips, and sugar and vanilla, but no flour. She’d run to the store with Jon the day before and they hadn’t seen any there.

Myrcella went into the library and grabbed one of books off the table and settled onto the couch, turning to the page she’d left off on. It was a wonderful story, one her Uncle Jaime had given her a few years back and she’d never gotten around to reading. She sent him a quick text: _The Patriots! How did you not tie me to a chair and MAKE me read this?_ And then continued on.

She was about thirty pages on when she heard the dogs barking and then the doorbell so she got up and went to the back door. She glanced in the great room and saw that not one of the three of them had gotten up, or even so much as turned around, so she rolled her eyes and went to the back door. There was a large box resting on the back porch and she struggled to pick it up.

It was addressed to _Robb, Sansa, Jon & Myrcella _and since she was one of the four and the other three were in a fugue state she decided to open it.

When she reached inside she pulled first a bottle of zinc tablets and then a bottle of Vitamin D ones. She put the box on the floor and nearly gasped at how much was inside. There was a whole bottle the size of laundry detergent of hand sanitizer and another twelve pack of toilet paper. There were three bags of flour and a few packets of yeast.

She pulled everything out and settled it on the kitchen counter and then put the box out on the back porch so they’d remember to recycle it. Remembering her mother’s advice she washed her hands thoroughly and then started putting things away.

She left out a bag of flour and scrolled to Arya’s friend Hot Pie’s Instagram, remembering he had a brownie recipe she wanted to try. He had been keeping very busy during quarantine, he was a true talent, and she got lost looking at all of the beautiful yummy things he’d made over the past couple of weeks.

She found the brownie recipe but then she saw a beautiful looking ciabatta. Myrcella clicked on that and saw that it was titled _Easy ciabatta (for beginners)._ She sat down at the kitchen island and started reading through his directions. It seemed simple enough.

She messaged Hot Pie saying _I’m about to try making your ciabatta, if I have an emotional breakdown are you around to assist?_

He started typing back almost immediately and said _I’m around, but you won’t. Just don’t rush._

She sent a thank you back and read through all of the directions more thoroughly. It really did seem simple enough, precise but not necessarily _difficult_ for someone like her who had always followed directions.

Myrcella went into the pantry and started pulling out all of the ingredients. She grabbed a large bowl and measuring cups and spoons and scrubbed down the counter.

It looked like the first step was making the _sponge_. She had no idea what that meant but she added in the ingredients it called for and started stirring it.

“Oh my _god_ ,” Sansa exclaimed.

“That was wild start to finish,” Robb agreed.

“What year is it?,” Jon asked.

They all shuffled into the kitchen and stopped dead in their tracks when they saw her.

“All done with your Lion Emperor?,” she asked. “Or was it your Panther Duke?”

“Tiger King,” they all informed her in unison.

“Whaaaat are you doing?,” Jon asked warily.

“Making ciabatta!,” she told them happily. “It’s going to take a while though because this has to sit for like twelve hours.”

“I thought we didn’t have any flour? I wanted to make brownies,” Sansa said and Myrcella couldn’t help but grin at how perfectly in sync the two of them were.

“We got a package of a bunch of stuff,” she told them, going into a drawer and grabbing the plastic wrap so that she could cover the bowl.

“Did you order it?,” Robb asked.

She shook her head, “No but it was addressed to all of us. The box is on the back porch.”

Robb went out back and came back in with a note she hadn’t seen.

“It’s from Mom and Dad,” he told them.

“Which means it’s from Mom,” Sansa noted.

“I don’t know,” Robb said as Myrcella put the bowl in the refrigerator. “What else was there?”

“Toilet paper, which I put in the closet with all the cleaning supplies, that truly enormous bottle of hand sanitizer, some zinc? I think and Vitamin D.”

“Dad,” Sansa and Robb realized at once.

“Well,” she said, “Regardless we should call and thank them.”

Sansa proffered her cell phone and dialed her parents, putting it on speaker phone. Myrcella came around the island and sat up on the counter.

Robb came to her side immediately, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

“When did you get back from your run?,” has asked.

She looked at him incredulously, “Do you not remember speaking to me?” His brow furrowed and she chuckled, because honestly it really couldn’t have been described as a conversation. “Well then I guess I should tell you that I got into the Bol seminar.”

His whole face lit up and he grabbed her cheeks in his hand, “OF COURSE YOU DID!!” And then he smacked an excited kiss on her lips, “I’m so proud of you sweetheart. How did you find out?” She went into her email and clicked on the note she’d gotten from her T.A. and showed it to him. He started reading and smiled, looking up at her briefly before reading more. He kissed her again, “So proud of you.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, letting him stand between her legs.

Jon was standing with his back against the counter, Sansa cuddled into his side.

“Morning my love,” the comforting voice of Catelyn Stark came through the speaker.

“Hi Mom,” Sansa and Robb chorused.

“We’re just calling to thank you and Dad for the care package,” Sansa told her.

“Thank youuuuuu,” she and Jon repeated.

“Oh you got it, good! We were nervous, let me get your father he’s been tracking it for days now,” Catelyn said and Sansa smiled as Jon pressed a kiss to her temple. “Ned, it’s the kids. Yes they got it. They called to thank us.”

“Hey kids!,” Ned’s booming voice greeted them all. “You all holding up alright?”

“We’re doing great,” Robb answered for all of them. “How’s Grandpa?”

“Stubborn as an _ox_ ,” Ned said and then they heard Catelyn whacking him in the chest. “It’s great getting some quality time with him.”

Myrcella giggled and said, “It could be worse, Ned. You could be with _my_ grandfather.”

“That is a very good point, angel,” Ned agreed and she felt Robb squeeze her thighs.

“Before I forget,” Robb said, “Tell Bran and Rickon that they _have_ to watch Tiger King.”

“Yep,” Jon agreed. “Rickon will love it.”

“Oh they already devoured that absolute _garbage_ days ago,” Catelyn informed them. “I mean, of all the ridiculous things…”

“Finally, a voice of reason,” Myrcella said.

“Resist, darling,” Catelyn agreed. “Your brain cells will thank you later.”

Myrcella stuck out her tongue at Jon and he dipped two fingers in his water glass and flicked it at her.

“Have you heard anything from school?,” Ned asked.

“Only that they’re extending it another week,” Jon answered.

“Tommy’s boarding school is remote for the year,” she told them, “And Harvard is closed too.”

“Yeah, listen kids,” Catelyn said, “I think you need to prepare yourselves.”

“We’ve got everything we need,” Robb promised, “Extras of all the important stuff.”

There was silence on the other end and the four of them looked at each other. For a brief terrifying moment Myrcella wondered if they were about to learn that Grandpa Tully had in fact contracted it. She rubbed between Robb’s shoulder blades and the way his back was tensed told her that he suspected that too.

“No, baby,” Catelyn said finally, “I think you need to prepare yourselves for the idea that we might be in this situation for a while. That it might be some time for things to go back to normal. That you might not be returning to school or going much of anywhere.”

When Harvard had shut down, Myrcella knew it was just a matter of time before their school did too. And when Tommy called her last week and told her that all of his things had been shipped to him – except his bong – that had confirmed it. She’d been preparing herself for a while that this was how it was going to be for the next… while anyway.

“Myrcella,” Ned addressed her directly, “Jon already knows this but that’s your home now as much as Robb and Sansa’s. So you stay as long as you want. I feel much better knowing that you all are together. I can call your father and discuss it with him if you’d like.”

Her heart swelled with love for the Starks, all of them, not just Robb and Sansa, but for Catelyn and Ned and the whole rest of the brood.

“Thank you,” she said genuinely, hoping he knew how much she meant it, then teased, “I’ll let you know if I need back up.”

He chuckled on the other line and Catelyn said, “We’ve got to take your Grandpa to an appointment but we’ll speak to you kids later.”

They hung up with a chorus of goodbyes and love yous and then the four of them stayed where they were.

Sansa put her phone down on the counter and glanced at her.

“I’m sorry,” Sansa said to Robb and Jon. “You guys deserved a senior spring.”

Myrcella had been thinking about that too. She and Sansa had time for things to return to normal, but Jon and Robb had already started interviews for next fall. This was supposed to be the last truly carefree time in their lives, and they were missing it.

“We’ve partied enough over the last four years,” Jon shrugged.

Robb nodded, “Yeah it would’ve been great but…”

“Still,” Myrcella said.

“I can think of a lot worse ways to spend the next couple months of my life than locked in here with you three,” Jon said and then looked down at Sansa, “Especially you.”

Sansa grinned and kissed him and Myrcella couldn’t help but smile at how beautifully happy the two of them were. She thought about the first night they’d gotten here and what she’d said to them then and how true it had turned out to be.

“Yeah,” Robb said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, “Like I said. I’ve got all the essentials.”

She grinned and Jon groaned and Sansa booed.

She looked outside and saw the calm lake and the buds on the trees and the bright blue sky.

_It’s not a villa in Tuscany, but it’s a good place to tell some stories._

_And who knows? Maybe we’ll even make some of our own._

She looked back and saw that Sansa was telling Jon something, the pink on her cheeks declaring her excitement and the wonder in his eyes confirming everything she’d ever wanted for her. She turned to Robb who was already looking at her.

“The essentials, huh?,” she asked.

He glanced at Jon and Sansa and Ghost and Grey Wind piled on the floor and then back at her.

“Yeah,” Robb agreed, “Besides, how long can this _really_ last anyway?”


End file.
